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EDITORIAL 

MIRACLE in NEWPORT - ΑΝ ENGLISHMAN’S VIEW 
REVIEW OF IMAGE PROCESSOR II 

NEWS FROM DILWYN JONES COMPUTING 
QL 2000 TOWER CASE DIY-KIT 

HELPFUL HINT (External Keyboard-90 Interface) 
EASY POINTER III - A REVIEW 

QMATHSI- A REVIEW: PART 2 of 2 

GROUP BUY 

RDS (Random Dot Stereograms) 

SHOW PHOTOGHAPHS 

SUNDRY IQLR ITEMS 

HELPFUL HINT (How to keep Disk labels Clean) 
SERMouse (Ver. 3.01) - A REVIEW 
SUBSCRIPTIONS /ADVERTISEMENTS 


ADVERTISERS 


THE PROGS 

THE PROGS 

SOFTWARE 87 

MIRACLE SYSTEMS 

ERGON DEVELOPMENT 
DILWYN JONES COMPUTING 
MECHANICAL AFFINITY 
QUBBESOFT P/D 

JOCHEN MERZ SOFTWARE 
DIGITAL PRECISION 

W. N. RICHARDSON & CO. (EEC) 
T.F. SERVICES 





EDITORIAL 
Newport, Rhode Island, USA - The Editorial Staff 


There’s plenty of news to report starting with MIRACLE Systems announcement that the 
software for the QXL is near completion. Now any PC can Multi-Task, provided it has a 
QXL installed. 


The PROGS from Belgium report that the latest versions of LINEDESIGN and 
DATADESIGN operate perfectly with any QL and compatible configuration. Both 
programs have had major improvements (new features) added as well. PD software 
authors will be happy to know that DATADESIGN contains a demo version of 
ENGINE REXT, which can be FREELY used in PD programs (the implement 
command is disabled). 


Davide Santachiara of ERGON DEVELOPMENT, Italy reports two new software 
packages, the first being "ZM /128" an addition to their stable of Spectrum emulators, the 
ZM/128 supports emulation of Spectrum 128K machines. Their second release is titled 
"ERGON FLOPPY DISK UTILITIES’, a package of useful tools for ALL density disk 
drives including HD and ED. Davide informed us that while Ergon cannot accept credit 
cards, they can accept Direct Bank Transfers. Send Bank Transfers to: 


BANCA POPOLARE DELL’ EMILIA ITALY 
SWIFT BPMOD2 - TELEX 510031 emipop 
SEDE REGGIO EMILIA - CC 6533/73 - DAVIDE SANTACHIARA 


Davide reminds us to include 10,000 ITL to cover bank transfer fees (the fee is the same 
for any currency). 


Tony Firshman of TF SERVICES in the UK is shipping the long awaited Minerva 1.97 
ROM upgrade. Tony also reports that Minerva MK II is now equipped with improved 
battery connections and a D9 connector support his new ANALOGUE and PARALLEL 
interfaces used with the I2C bus. 


Bill Richardson of W. N. RICHARDSON & CO. (EEC) reports that he's shipping new 
KEYBOARD MEMBRANES. (Editor's Note: Bill deserves the thanks of all QL'ers for 
single handedly restarting production of Keyboard membranes, the original stock had 
dwindled down to nothing.) 


MIRACLE SYSTEMS will sponsor a QL show on Saturday, the 17 July 1993 at the 
EUROVOLLEY CENTRE, Beneluxlaan, Vilvoorde, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. The 
main attraction will be the QXL in operation. Entry to the show is FREE. 


The German Post Office is undertaking a countywide change in "POST CODES" 
effective 1 July 1993. We've received the new codes for Jochen Merz (D-47169) and 
Jurgen Falkenberg (D-75236), we'll report others as they become available. 


QUANTA has released three new additions disks. The new disks include DEMO 5 and 
the new LIBGUIDE (now loads directly from boot). The following seven disks have 
been affected by either additions or upgrades: 


DEMO3  DEMO4 962  GRAF2  MATHS2  PSION2 UG6 


EDITORIAL - (CONT'D) 


SOFTWARE 87 of the UK, has a new software inquiry telephone number (GB) 071 285 
9008. You can reach them on weekdays between the hours of 1400 to 1700 GMT. 


We (IQLR) have recently installed a FAX machine. You can now reach us by either 
voice or fax at (USA) 401 848 3805. 


Jurgen Falkenberg of Germany has sent preliminary product information on a new 
product entitled the "QL-IFO-CARD". Billed as an intelligent I/O card with powerful 
abilities for input and output It is reported to be compatible with any QL system 
including the Gold-Card. 


Now to the hard part (it's difficult to write about an affair you were so closely connected 
with) IQLR sponsored the first ever QL (only) get-together in North America on the 5th 
of June 1993. The affair was organized and held within a seven week time span. Even 
with such short notice, 60 QL'ers managed to change their schedules and attend. The 
average attendee traveled over 800 miles with Claude A. J. Schleyer from Albuquerque, 
New Mexico traveling the greatest distance (2800 miles each direction), our publisher 
traveled the shortest distance (2 miles). 


Those attending from the UK included Stuart Honeyball of MIRACLE SYSTEMS who 
demonstrated the QXL card on our editors 386DX PC. Tony Firshman of 
TF SERVICES demonstrated the new Minerva 1.97, HERMES (replacement for the 
8049 co-processor), and his new ANALOGUE and PARALLEL interfaces for use with 
Minerva MK II's I2C bus. Bill Richardson of W. N. RICHARDSON & CO. was busy 
selling KEYBOARD-90 and HARDDISK interfaces from Jurgen Falkenberg, and was 
doing a brisk business with new QL Keyboard Membranes. 


From Toronto CANADA came Hugh Howie who demonstrated PD software from the 
Toronto user group, gave away samples of the group's newsletter, and recruited new 
members. 


Representatives from the USA included Bill Cable of WOOD & WIND COMPUTING 
who demonstrated his new super financial package "ΟΙ ΕΕΚ". Tim Swenson of 
"QL HACKER'S JOURNAL" fame offering disk collections of his fine publication as 
well as great looking T-Shirts. Frank Davis and Paul Holmgren of 
MECHANICAL AFFINITY and UPDATE MAGAZINE offered a complete line of QL 
hardware and software from the major suppliers worldwide. Frank also offered back 
issues of his quarterly UPDATE magazine. SeaCoast Services had Collector’s Editions of 
IQLR and special "MIRACLE in NEWPORT" T-Shirts. 


John Impellizzeri and Don Walterman from the Detroit, Michigan area demonstrated 
differently configured QL systems including an assembled QL-2000 Tower Cased QL 
from Jurgen Falkenberg. While John and Don were not selling anything their table was 
quite busy. 


A big part of "MIRACLE in NEWPORT" was the opportunity (many QL'ers took 
advantage of) to socialize and pick one-anothers brains, while gleening as much as 
possible from our UK visitors. Information flowed like a river at crest. On Sunday the 
6th of June many of us gathered at the Pinapple Motel where Tony Firshman and Don 


EDITORIAL - (CONT’D) 


Walterman demonstrated how a Bulletin Board operates using QBOX software. Stuart 
Honeyball was fascinated by a demonstration of RANDOM DOT STEROGRAMS by 
Herb Schaaf of the CATS group. (Editor's Note: look for Herb's RDS in this issue.) 


It's nearly impossible to name all those who attended and helped make "MIRACLE in 
NEWPORT" the success it was, but in particular we would like to single out three user 
groups who were very well represented; CATS from the Washington DC area, LIST from 
the New York-Long Island area, and NESQLUG from the Boston area. 


Our SPECIAL THANKS go to the NESQLUG group who provided and served 
refreshments that made even the "Coffee Break" an event to remember. 


Rather than continue on and on we'll let others write about "MIRACLE in NEWPORT". 
Included in this issue is a pictorial view of the get-to-gether, hoping the old addage of a 
picture being worth a thousand words is true. 

So many of our readers have either called or wrote expressing regrets on not being able 
to attend on such short notice. The response to "MIRACLE in NEWPORT" was so 
overwhelming that we're already talking about next year and hope to have more 
information available by the end of the year. At present we are looking at mid-May 1994 


with the location being either INDIANA, the WASHINGTON DC area, or again in 
NEWPORT. 


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MIRACLE in NEWPORT - AN ENGLISHMAN’S VIEW 
London, GREAT BRITAIN - Tony Firshman (TF SERVICES) 


When I heard that Bob Dyl was organising a QL event in Newport, it seemed heaven 
sent, as I had just given up in the infamous free’ Hoover tickets! (Editor's Note: Hoover 
had a promotion that offered free airline tickets if you purchased one of their appliances, 
it ended up badly.) There also appeared to be a cut-price ticket war going on at the same 
time. So when Stuart Honeyball (Miracle Systems) said how about going, what other 
answer could I give. 


We both booked with Virgin Atlantic (of course), and decided to come for five days so 
we could see more than just the show. 


This was the first trip for both of us, and I certainly had many pre-conceived ideas about 
the 'states' We were met by Dick Taylor and Bob Dyl at the International Airport in 
Boston, and left in the middle of rush hour traffic. Almost the first experience was the 
sound of a thin guy in a vast truck yelling "out of the way a***ole" to two nice old ladies 
in an enormous car. We were then stuck in a noisy underground Boston traffic jam. It 
seemed my notions of the states were to be proved right 


HOW WRONG I WAS. Once we arrived in Newport, the politeness and friendliness of 
everyone was quite incredible. We were completely thrown by a very effusive welcome 
by a hotel receptionist, as if we were old friends. "You must think we're someone else’ we 
said dumbfounded. A very civilised and educated barman took a great deal of trouble 
directing us to a place to eat. Traffic stopped to wave us rare pedestrians across the road. 
Cars passed well over to the left while we were cycling. Cars drove slowly. The air was 
clean. "Nice to hear voices from the old country' from a stranger on the train. All the 
(wooden) houses appeared to have acres of ground, no fences, and were very 
picturesque... and so on. 


It was a great shock to return to the old smelly noisy rude London in a heat wave, it made 
me feel чег glad that I'm moving out in six weeks to a more civilised Ascot. I guess New 
York would be something else, but we do not hear about the civilised USA we found in 
Newport. 


We had a great holiday, and saw a great deal of Newport and the surrounding area, we 
even had the oppotunity to visit Cape Cod (our thanks to Sherm Waterman for his guided 
tour). We ate plentiful and very cheaply, and drank a great deal of Bud Lite! 


Oh yes - the show! Bob was clearly quite concerned that everything would happen and 
people would come on the day - he had nothing to worry about. He produced very 
professional price lists and special T-Shirts for us all, and over 55 people turned up. 


Stuart Honeyball started sales of the QXL card for the PC. Software for it arrived hot 
from Tony Tebby in France via modem and it was quite something to see the familiar old 
QL mode 4 screens on Dick Taylor’s modern PC. This card gives a QL with up to 8mb of 
ram and is at least 5 times faster than a QL with Gold Card. 


Bill Richardson (EEC) who arrived a few days earlier than we did, was selling his usual 
range of hardware, including Faulkenberg harddick and keyboard interfaces. Bill also 
announced that he had negotiated the restart of production of QL keyboard membranes. 


M. I. N. - ΑΝ ENGLISHMAN’S VIEW - (CONT'D) 


Tony Firshman (me) using yet another machine loaned by Dick Taylor, launched version 
1.97 of the Minerva ROM which now has built-in multibasic. It allows (with Hermes) 
split output and input baud rates for use with serial mouse (from EEC), and for the first 
time anywhere, we showed our analogue and parallel interfaces for use with the MK II 
Minerva’s I2C bus. Also on display and selling well was Hermes, the working IPC that 
replaces the QL’s bugged 8049. It allows reliable serial transfers up to 19200 bps and 
eliminates keybounce. 


There were also traders from the states. My apologies for not mentioning them by name 
but we were so busy all day that I didn’t have a chance to follow their dealings! 


It was a very worthwhile trip in many ways, for us old country types. Both Bob and Dick 
spent most of their time, it seemed, ferrying us about. We will certainly visit again and 
cannot thank our American friends too much for their welcome. 





powerful, programmable database 
both memory and disk based files 


LINEdesign 


the one and only vector drawing program 
just look at this advertisement 


For more information just write, phone or fax 
All our software is also available from : 
Dilwyn Jones, Software87 or Jochen Merz 


REVIEW OF IMAGE PROCESSOR 2 DILWYN JONES COMPUTING 
Shelby Township, Michigan, USA - John J. Impellizzeri 


Image Processor 2 from Dilwyn Jones Computing is a powerful program to aid in editing 
or creating QL screen pictures. It includes handy and powerful utilities such as 
converting from one screen mode to another, removing color, changing one color to 
another, adding text, enhancing images, block and window handling and the ability to 
zoom in on and edit a specific part of a screen. 


Image Processor (IP) needs a QL with at least 512K of RAM and a floppy drive. It will 
work with or without a Gold Card. No toolkit extras are needed, however it can use the 
Toolkit 2 defaults if you have TK2. IP comes with an excellent 28 page manual. This 
manual states that the program will work on JM, JS and Minerva 1.92 ROM's. I can 
report that it also works on an MG ROM and Minerva 1.97. IP is a Qliberator compiled 
program. The disk includes the needed runtime extensions if you don't have them loaded 
already, and multitasks well All functions can be accessed from the keyboard, although 
a joystick or mouse can be used. 


IP has a built in help facility to assist the user. Just press F1 and up pops a help screen 
with text pertaining to the function you just selected. This works similar to the help in 
the Psion software; if you ask for help at the main menu, it offers a list of the available 
functions, if you ask for help after selecting a function it gives specific assistance for that 
function. The help is also configurable. As delivered, whenever you select an item from 
the menu, a help screen will appear to guide you. This is handy when you are first 
learning the program. Once you are familiar with the program, this gets annoying and 
slows you down, so IP allows you to turn off this automatic help. Help is still available if 
you need it. While this online assistance is great, it doesn't replace the manual. I would 
still recommend reading the manual to get a feel for all IP can do. 


I mentioned that the help was configurable. Many parts of IP are configurable. After 
you've used the program awhile and find your always changing IP's built in defaults, you 
can configure the program so it starts up just the way you want it. 


A very nice part of IP is that if you use any function that would permanently alter the 
screen, the change is made on a temporary basis and you are given the chance to see how 
it looks and a choice to keep it or go back to what you had. This is very good in case you 
make an ’oops’. It's still a wise idea to save your work in progress regularly and maybe 
keep a few older versions just in case. 


Memory permitting, you can have up to 9 screens loaded at once and can easily switch 
between them. IP allows you to copy screens, merge them, or do cut & paste type block 
moves between screens. 


All of IP's functions can be used in either of the QL's screen modes. IP can also convert 
a screen from one mode to the other. Depending on the picture this sometimes looks OK 
and sometimes it doesn’t. However with all of the editing functions available it can be 
made to look reasonable if you have to have a screen in a specific mode. IP also lets you 
switch the screen mode without changing the picture. There is an Unflash function to 
tidy things up if you load a mode 4 screen with the QL in mode 8. The program can save 
and load standard QL screen files. In addition, it can save and load compressed screens in 
its own format and one compatible with The Painter and The Clipart programs from 
PROGS. It can also load compressed screens from Digital Precision's Eye-Q. 


IMAGE PROCESSOR 2 - (CONT'D) 


No screen image utility would be complete without text and graphics drawing facilities. 
IP has both, allowing many types of graphic shapes such as circles, rectangles, arcs, 
polygons and lines to be 'drawn' on the screen, moved around, and sizes & colors 
changed. Shapes can be filled with a color, and there is a paint brush option with an 
adjustable size brush to paint an area free hand. A ’spray’ function is also available to 
tone an area with a color similar to using an airbrush. You can specify the size of the 
area, the color, and the density. Text can be added anywhere. Many options exist for 
text. Various sizes, ink and paper colors, and fonts can be used. IP comes with 22 fonts 
on disk and it can use almost any standard QL font from other packages like Lightning or 
desktop publishing programs. A handy feature is the ability to specify the OVER value. 
This works like the OVER function in SuperBASIC. It determines whether text entered 
will be placed using the ink and paper colors, or superimposed or blended in to the 
image. Experimentation is best here to see the different effects, and this is easy and 
painless with IP's confirmation option. 


I've left a few of IP's most powerful functions for last. Enhance will attempt to clean up 
any graininess or random dots in a picture. The manual states that it is best used on a 
digitized picture to clean up any noise signals introduced during the digitization. 1t also 
says it is not too effective on hand drawn, dark, or smoothly colored pictures. Like most 
of the other functions it has an undo option so experimentation is worth a try. If the 
result doesn't please you it'S easy to undo. Outline will generate a white on black 
cartoon-like outline of a picture. It works best if there are only solid colors in the picture. 
Stippled colors can confuse it. Since it also has an undo option, it won't hurt to try it and 
if it doesn't give the results you want, you can always undo it and re-edit the picture and 
try again. Both enhance and outline work quite fast considering what they accomplish. 
The content of the picture does seem to have an affect on the speed, but each function 
took less than 20 seconds to do the whole screen on a Gold Card machine. 


IP has a windowing facility. This lets you process only a portion of a screen leaving the 
rest of it untouched. The size of the window is adjustable from practically pixel size up to 
the size of the screen. Almost all of IP's functions are available in this facility in addition 
to a few new ones. You can decolor, recolor, outline, enhance, mirror the image 
vertically or horizontally, pan and scroll and invert black and white. All of these also 
have an undo option. 


The zoom and edit function lets you zero in on a section of the screen and edit it on a 
larger scale. Each pixel is blown up to 4 times its normal size. You can then set 
individual pixels in any color or draw pixel sized lines in any color. While in this mode 
you can pan and scroll to other parts of the screen. This makes working on detailed parts 
of the picture much easier. As usual there is an undo option. 


Finally, once you have your masterpiece completed, it can be saved so that it can be used 
in another program or you can print it directly to a printer if desired. IP has support for 
three types of printers plus a facility to use your own external printer driver. Details for 
writing a custom driver are supplied. IP can print to Epson compatible 9 and 24 pin 
printers and a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 500. The HP driver works in HP mode so you 
don't need to use an emulation cartridge. There are options to each type of printer. You 
can specify a mono or shaded printout and you have the option of inverting black and 


IMAGE PROCESSOR 2 - (CONT’D) 


white for printing The Epson type options also let you specify the number of passes of 
the printhead per line. The built in drivers are configurable as far as the codes required 
by your printer to tell it what type of graphic printing to do. 


Image Processor 2 is a very powerful, easy to use program to handle QL screen pictures. 
It has a wide range of features and is very user friendly. Buy it. 


(Editor's Note: IMAGE PROCESSOR 2 can be obtained directly from DJC (please see 
Dilwyn's adverts in this issue) or from any QL dealer worldwide who carries DIC 
software.) 


NEWS FROM DILWYN JONES COMPUTING 


DJC has extented its already wide range of QL software by reaching agreement with 
some of the authors of the commercial software formerly published by CGH Services 
(CGH stopped trading at the end of March 1993). The following seven programs have 
been re-launched by DJC: SQUIDGY ROUND THE WORLD, OPEN GOLF, GREY 
WOLF, QUICK MANDELBROT III, SToQL, QUIZ MASTER II and 5 GAME PAC. 


In addition to the above DJC has launched a much asked-for utility program to print 
wide spreadsheets and text files sideways in landscape print on 9 and 24 pin dot matrix 
printers The program is titled SIDEWRITER and the cost is a mere £15. 


pl u s4 QL Wordprocessing at its Best 


IMPROVING YOUR PRINTING: Option 1 


New printers using twenty-four pin, bubblejet, inkjet or laser technologies offer very fast output of the highest quality. They feature multiple proportionalty 
spaced founts in different sizes. They allow precision adjustment of spacing between words and between lines. 











On the QL, only plus4 with its dedicated printer drivers is capable of utilising these advanced features. We mean utilising, not playing with. We mean the 
abitity to calculate automatically the number of words that fit within the margins, justifying with proportionally spaced founts as weil as typewriter style fixed 
pitch. And the facility to vary line-spacing in different parts of the text with automatic calculation of page breaks. Plus page layouts with multiple cotumns, 
with equat or unequal widths. 


plus4 and its printer drivers put all these features at you fingertips. Select the appropriate driver once and forget about control codes, translation of 
accented characters, counting the lines to fit the page. calculating the number of characters that fit within the margins--all the tedium that is part and parcel 
of wordprocessing with other programs. 


IMPROVING YOUR PRINTING: Option 2 


You may already own a 9 pin dot-matrix or daisywheel printer. Upgrade it with plus4! We have written forty dedicated printer drivers for those old 
favourites. Although not in the same league as far as output quality and speed are concerned, they share some of the features of modern printers. plus4 
brings out the best those printers are capable of. 


IMPROVING YOUR PRINTING: Option 3 


plus4 drivers mentioned so far are text-mode drivers which print at the fastest possible speed: up to several pages per minute with fast printers. We were 
not talking about graphic mode printing which is not of the same quality and is hampered by the serial port bottleneck {it can take several minutes per page 
even with the Gold Card). Nonetheless, we also offer plus4 users a graphic mode driver for dot-matrix printers: fountext88. Up to 32 bit-mapped founts 
can be loaded with fountext88 and used freely in your texts. It typically takes less than 4 minutes to print a full page which is very fast by QL standards 
founted89 allows you to modify the founts or design your own 


plus requires disk drive and 256 K memory. Leaflet with list of supported printers available on request. 


text87plus4 £79 
2488 (drivers required for 24-pin and bubblejets) £19 
typeset90-deskjet (drivers required for al! HP Deskjets) £19 
typeset90-Epson (drivers required for Epson Lasers) £39 
fountext88 * founted89 (optional dot-matrix graphic driver) £39 


Software87, 33 Savernake Road, London NW3 2JU 





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QL GOLD CARD 


£225 inc. (£200 outside EC) 


This is the expansion that has been revolutionising the QL. It is very easy to fit - 
it simply plugs into the expansion port at the left hand of the QL - and once fitted 
it will instantly increase the execution speed of the QL by about 4 times due to 
the presence of a 16MHz 68000 on board. There is 2M of fast 16 bit RAM of 
which QDOS sees a contiguous 1920K. The remainder is used for shadowing 
the QL's ROM and display memory and for the GOLD CARD's own code. 


There is a disk interface which can access 3 mechanisms (4 with the DISK 
ADAPTER) of 3 different densities, DD (double density, 720K), HD (high density. 
1.44M) and ED (extra high density, 3.2M) in any mix. The disk interface 
connector is the same type that was fitted to the TRUMP CARD so most QL 
compatible disk drives can be used. Please note that DD drives still give a 
Capacity of 720K per diskette. Our DUAL ED DISK DRIVE allows the GOLD 
CARD to access DD. HD and ED diskettes. 


Another feature is the battery backed clock. When the QL is switched on the 
contents of the clock are copied into the QU's clock so that the time and date are 
correct. The firmware in the ROM gives the GOLD CARD ali the functionality of 

the TRUMP CARD like TOOLKIT II and there is a sub-directory system for 
floppy and RAM disks. 


Physically the GOLD CARD is about half the size of the TRUMP CARD and so 

fits almost all within the QL. Its current consumption is well under the allowable 

Maximum so no special power supply is required. The GOLD CARD comes with 
a 14 day money back guarantee and a 2 year warranty 


MIRACLE 


THE QXL 





The QXL turns the common PC into a QL compatible. The package comprises a half 
card that plugs into an 8 or 16 bit standard ISA slot and a diskette loaded with a QDOS 
compatible operating system and a Superbasic compatible interpreter. After installation 
Simply type QXL and the PC will appear to be a QL allowing QL programs to be run from 

QL format diskettes. 


The card itself has a 32 bit 66EC040 processor running at 20MHz which gives a good 
turn of speed. This processor has access to its own RAM and so performance is virtually 
independent of the host PC whether it has an 8088 or a Pentium. In fact the PC is used 
purely as an I/O system giving QL programs access to the PC's floppy disc, hard disc, 
keyboard, display, serial and parallel ports. The card itself has QL style network ports to 
allow connection to a QL network. The minimum PC specification required is an XT with 
EGA display and a spare standard slot. 


Varying RAM sizes from 1M up to 8M can be supplied. The smaller capacities can be 
upgraded to the larger ones and the cost is simply the price difference. Not all the RAM 
is available to the user programs; the 1M equates roughly with a TRUMP CARD QL 
memory size and the 2M with a GOLD CARD QL. 


During the lifetime of the QXL we intend to enhance the software to make use of the new 
hardware facilities of the PC such as SVGA graphics. As has been our policy with the 
TRUMP CARD and GOLD CARD we intend to provide software upgrades free of charge. 


SYSTEMS 


QXL prices 


1M £295 (£255) 
2M £325 (£280) 
5M £410 (£355) 
8M £495 (£430) 


(prices in brackets for outside EC) 






See the QXL at the Eurovolley Centre, 
Beneluxlaan, Vilvoorde, Brussels, Belgium 
on Saturday 17 July 1993. Entry Free. 


INTERNATIONAL QL REPORT (IQLR) is a regular magazine that all QL 
users should read. It has articles for the beginner, the advanced user and 
every one else in between. Also, the international flavour combined with 
low advertising rates makes it probably the best place to locate QL related 
items. IQLR is run by QL enthusiasts whose proud boast is that they have 
never been late with an issue. If you do not already get it then ‘phone us 
now. One year’s subscription for 6 issues to any European address is 


£22.00 and it’s worth every penny. Subscribers „е. 
elsewhere should contact SeaCoast Services, TR 


15 Kilburn Court, Newport, RI 02840, U.S.A. direct. mamam | 


QL SHOW SPONSORED BY MIRACLE SYSTEMS 


Tel: (0904) 423986 


To place an order by phone 
please have your credit card 
ready. For customers outside 
the EC we charge the prices 
shown in brackets. 


To order by post, please fillin ¥ Expires _ 


the form opposite or write to 
us quoting your credit card 
number and expiry date, or 
enclosing a cheque payable to 
MIRACLE SYSTEMS Ltd. 


2 
To: MIRACLE SYSTEMS Ltd, 25 Broughton Way, Osbaldwick, 
York, YO1 3BG, U.K. Tel: (0904) 423986 





Please send me 
| enclose a cheque to the value of: £ 





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Ergon Development une 1295 price ist 
Davide Santachiara, Via Emilio De Marchi 2, 42100 Reggio Emilia, Italy 


All the prices are given in ITL (alian lira). To send о foreign currency cheque use current conversion rates (eg 1.000 ITL-0.44£- 1.08 
OM=0.63$ - ask your bank as these values may change) but remember to add 10.000 ITL to cover our bank conversion charges. 


ZM/x system plus-2: spectrum 48K emuictors. This package comprises ΖΜ/2, ΖΜ/3, BACKUPPERS, ZM/ACCESSORIES (ZM/DISK 
UTILITIES + ZM/DIGINET) and ZM/CONFIGURATOR. ZM/2 & 2М/3 are sold together as they are complementary. 2М/2 is an emulator 
and is the most compatible while ZM/3 is a threaded code complier so ZX games run faster. Specifications: Fast emulation (2M/3: 50/ 
80% ZX speed on a Gold Card); Smooth sprites movement: True ZX sound through network port; >99% Compatibility on 24/2 (over 
300 games tested); Interface 1 emulation (on ZM/2). The supervisor offers you: True ZXQL tapefiles managing; 280 Monitor facilities; 
280 snapshot load/save and a iot more. The price comprises one 3.5* disk, 46 pages manual, ΖΜ/2. ZM/3, ΖΧ & QL programs to 
transter your ZX programs into the QL via net or ser port (BACKUPPERS - QL <-> ZX IF-1 serlai cable is ovallable tor 20000 TTD, conversion 
utilities for Plus-D. Disciple or Opus Discovery disks ZM/DISK UTILITIES) ond a utility to read and convert directly ZX tapes trom the 
network port (ZM/DIGINET v3 works on any QL hardware with fast ram: GC/TC/Expanderam). The ZM/x system costs 60000 ITL 


ZM/hT system: Advanced Spectrum 48k emulator. The ZM/hT system comprises the full 2M/x system (as explained before) pius the 
new 280 compiler ZM/hT (high technology). ZM/hT converts dinamically 280 code into fast 68000 machine code! tt offers you many 
options to optimise the code produced (speed, compatiblity, screen redrawing smoothness...). With ZM/hT you can play games on o 
16 MHz Gold Card at a speed very similar to o real Spectrum (70% to 130%). Amazingly compatiblity is now >99%, like ΖΜ/2. ZM/hT 
now works even on 640 Kb QL or Irump-Card Οἱ with interesting speed results (30/50% with some games). ἀ... really spectacular ... 
Ergon have made a highly professional product, well worth the price” IQLR Vol 3 n.) - ‘ZM/hT is tast ... well worth ће extra cost... an 
incredible feat of computer science" Simon Goodwin QLWorld 4/93. The ΖΜ/ΠΙ system (ZM/2,3,hT + utilities) costs 90000 ITL. 


NEW ZM/128: Spectrum 48k / 128k emulato:. New supervisor (similar to ZM/hT); f supports Interface 1 emulation, joystick emulation, 
ond the new 280 v2.0 48k/128k snapshot forma’. Disciple 128k Snapshot converter included. Amazingly speed in 128k mode is simllar 
{though slightly slower) than in 48k mode thanks to a very clever 16k memory bank switching implementation. FOR i=} TO 200:PRINT |; 
"NEXT lis performed in 13s on a Gold Card. ZM/128 can be bought іп addition with ZM/x or ZM/hT system for an additional 20000 ITL. 


NEW Ergon Floppy disk utilities: it comprises many useful tools for Double Density (720 Kb). High Density (1.44 Mb) and Extra 
Density (3.2 MD) QL о: alien disks. You get 1) а fast and powerful DISK EDITOR with many functions: Search, Edit. Collect. Recover 
corrupted files (even if tne directory and/or sector map is corrupted? - 2) An Intelligent disk copier/verifier which can work even with 
o single disk drive system (single or rnuttiple copies ore allowed) - 3) Much more... Ergon FLP disk utilities costs only 3500011111 


MasterBasic plus-1: The uttimote tool tor tne SuperBasic programmer. It allows you to speed-up drastically the construction/ 
oepugging of your programs. Search and reterence any variabie. tokens combination. string, FOR and SELect loop. procedure, 
function, on the whole program or only inside selected routines; join lines, view return stack ... You see in o pop-up “Une Menu’ all the 
referenced lines and the number of occurences in each line. Then you can еді or list the desired lines with a simple keypress. 
MasterBasic is fully compatible with Minerva integer tokens and MultiBasics. Now configurable with auto-sleep option under PE. 
MosterBasic costs 45.000 ITL with >30 pages manual. The package is extremely easy to use and well thought out, and even the more 
casual SuperBasic programmer should get a lot of use out of It" QLWorld 6/92 - “Elegant and useful" Simon Goodwin Ql World 4/93 


QLibrary Manager: Not с simple library manager but o clever SuperBasic source code extractor/manipulator. Do you need a 
routine from o SuperBasic program written some time ago? QLM will extract It for you. just tell him what you need. Very powerful and 
professional. ӨЕМ costs 40.000 ITL with >20 pages manual. “Overall the package is useful for SB authors and should enable new 
Basic programs to be created quickly, using experience and routines already created for earlier programs..." QLWorld 8/91 


DEAssembler v5 NEW plus-2: DEA is the cheapest but also the most powerful INTELLIGENT disossembler for the QL Just load the 
Gesired fie and DEA wili do ol! the work. It usually disassemble >95% of ony program without user Intervention, saving you HOURS of 
monuol work! It can extract AUTOMATICALLY Toolkff commands reaay to pe re-assembled. Multi data-types are recognised with 
automatic selection, providing auto-recognition of SB extensions, ROM headers, strings, QDOS - SMS - ΡΕ - WMAN calls, Config tables 
and Things extensions. DEA has knowledge of the structure of parameters passed to the most important o/s calls. This improves the 
aegree of automatic decoding. ond makes generated source code quatity ana readibility really impressive. Calls to the o/s (QDOS/ 
SMS/PE...) and error/system-basic variables keys are reported (with QDOS or SMS notation). The output is 100% compatible with GST/ 
QMAC, METACOMCO, HISOFT assembiers. DEA costs 55.000 ITL with >35 pages manual. Οἱ World 4/92 sald about version 4: "This 
program is certainly the most versatile machine code programming utllity | have seen on any computer to date’. 


Open World: (v2.1) Graphic conversion utilities. Load into the QL GIF files (present in enormous quantity in ali of the BBS), ТЕ 
(scanners), IFF (Amiga) or CUT images of any dimension. Convert them into 4, 8 colours (grey levels) or monochrome QL images (with 
9 powerful dithering algorithm - great for DIP applications). Open World costs 35.000 ITL ond is supplied on two disks with some 
beatiful images. o QL to PC screen converter (fie saved as GIF) and a program to read QL disks on MS-DOS v5, SUN. МАХ. UNIX... 


MusicManager: (v1.2) Simple program to create and play music on the QL. Psion style operation. It costs only 20.000 ITL with 8 
pages manual. "If you want to produce something of a semblance of music on the QL, then this is a useful package’ QLWortd 6/91 


Please add 12.000 NL tor cirmail postage (Europe) ἃ packaging (25.000 ITL airmail p&p outside Europe). Acceptable forms of 
payment are: Eurocheque in ITL: Postal order m TIL (send a copy of the receipt): Foreign currency cheaue (ie. not in ITL), please add 
10.000 ITL for bank tees. Cheque payable to Davide Santachtara. Direct bank transfer to: Banco Popolare Dell’ Emilia SWIFT BPMOIT22 
Sede Reggio E. CC 6533/73 D.Santachiara (add bank tees even If sending ITL) Discounts: 5.000 ITL off for any 2 progs, 10.000 П off for 

3, 15.000 П. off for 4 and so on. To receive our disk with PD or demo version of our programs send 6 IRCs. This disk is realty worth 
having: It contains over 1.5Mb of data in compressed form! All of our programs (except MusicManager need 512Kb expansion and 
are based on our powerful Menu System ΙΙ, o QPac 2-style menu system. They are compatible with Minerva and the P.E. They are 
written with clear English messages and the manuak have been improved in the UK. When ordering please state your configuration 











QL-2000 TOWER CASE QL DIY-KIT 
Troy, Michigan, USA - John J. Impellizzeri & Don Walterman 


This kit is from Computer Technik /Jiirgen Falkenberg in Germany and lets you move 
your QL into a modern mini-tower case. You gain many advantages from this move: disk 
drives in the same cabinet as the computer, room for expansion cards in the same case, 
stable power supply, one power switch for the system, smaller footprint and more 
modern appearance. There is clearance for a ROM cartridge to be installed, although 
you have to partially disassemble the PC case to install or remove it. The kit requires 
some serious work on your part. The manual estimates 4 hours for installation. We found 
12 hours to be more accurate at least the first time around. 


г if M Р Ве prepared to do some serious 

; ως soldering. While the instructions 
provided basic details for mechanical 
mounting of the QL components, some 
ingenuity will be helpful in a successful 
installation. For example, the basic kit 
provides two standoffs to mount the 
main board. (These are the two original 
mounting holes). While this does work, 
it means everytime a chip is replaced or 
wa new option is added, the board will 
flex. We added 7 additional standoffs 
(nylon spacers) underneath the main 
board. They were not attached to the 
main board but just provided some 
(QL with Tower Case and supplied parts) ^ support under the socketed chips. 





We also decided to add some improvements along the way. This makes sense since you 
bave the QL completely disassembled anyway. You might consider purchasing a spare 
QL motherboard. Whole QLs are available in the U.S. for $35. This allows you to spend 
time modifying the motherboard properly without preventing you from using your 
system (it also provides you with a little safety margin in case you miswire the power 
connections). We added the Tom Bent modifications. (If you haven't heard of these 
=. . modifications and are interested 
q 5 > contact IQLR). The power supply fixes 
were not implemented as they are a 
» moot point with the new 200 watt 
& supply in the mini-tower case. The 
„ instructions for converting the power 
; supply to drive the QL are good except 
that the wire colors supplied didn't 
completely match the directions. The 
directions were also vague about where 
to mount the QL’s original heat sink. A 
drawing would have helped. We chose 
- to mount it to the bottom mounting lug 
of the power supply. This caused 
problems later on when two floppy 
drives were replaced with a 40 MByte 
(modified QL motherboard) hard disk. The hard disk was deeper 









15 


QL-2000 KIT - (CONT'D) 


than the floppies it replaced. The power connector on the hard disk ran into the heat 
sink. If we had known this in advance, we would have mounted the heat sink elsewhere. 
Since the cables were already cut to length, we used a different shaped heat sink to get 
some clearance. 


The main problem area was the Bus-Expander. This is a 'flip-over' card that puts your 
QL expansion bus cards upside-down over the QL itself. Pay attention to the instructions 
on page 3. The Bus-Expander must be connected before installing the QL main board in 
the case. There is not enough clearance to install the expander after the QL is mounted 
in the case. The board works fine but has some serious mounting and stability problems. 
No means is provided to anchor the expander to the QL or the expansion cards to the 
expander. Also the expander backplane is within 1/4 inch of bare sheet metal of the case. 
The manual recommends using some scotch tape but we didn’t find that an adequate 
solution. What’s needed is something insulated to keep the expander board from shorting 
against the metal case and also to keep the board firmly seated in to the QL. Once you 
get the expander board seated and insulated you are still left with the problem of keeping 
any expansion cards plugged into the board securely. Since they hang upside down over 
the QL motherboard with no support any vibration could dislodge the board (witha 
hard disk you will have some vibration). One possible solution is to tie wrap the DIN 
connectors together. Each connector has a mounting hole on each end. These can be tie- 
wrapped to the corresponding hole in the backplanes’ DIN connector. That would 
prevent the boards from working loose from the backplane as well as provide some 
stability. You have to be careful that any expansion boards don’t contact any 
modifications such as caps, EPROM boards, QIMI etc, that may be installed on the QL. 
Often these add-ons assume this space is vacant We haven’t come up with a good 
solution yet but this does need to be addressed. We tried using the Bus-Expander with the 
flexible ribbon cable. This can be mounted to the back of the case using standoffs. This 
eliminates the chance of shorting out and makes the backplane stable. However, my 
Gold Card did not work reliably off this backplane (other boards like the Cumana disk 
interface, JFC hard disk interface and Miracle expanderam worked). It appears to be a 
seating problem since I can get the Gold Card to work by flexing the connection on the 
backplane (this Gold Card is 100% reliable when plugged into a standard QL). A little 
more experimenting is needed here. 


Another potential problem area is the video extension cable. The DIN 8 connector 
makes a hard right angle bend as it exits the QL board. It works fine but it is a very tight 
fit. In addition to extra parts listed in the kit instructions, you should add shrink wrap, 
heat sink compound, RS-232 standoffs and small hardware to your parts list. Some of the 
supplied hardware just did not fit well but that could be the fault of the case 
manufacturer. However, the supplied adapter to mount the DB9 connector for the 
joysticks doesn't fit well in the DB25 cutout. Standard adapters are available for this 
application. (JDR Microdevices supplies a PC bracket with 2 DB9 cutouts for $1.95 each 
part number BKT-14. JDR has no minimum order requirements.) We also added an 
extension cable for the JFC Keyboard 90 interface (another very tight fit). 


We had one defective part to troubleshoot Some of the coax supplied to extend the 
network ports to the back of the case was defective. It probably was broken during 
installation of the network ports in the rear panel The ports are located very close 
together making installation difficult. 


16 


QL-2000 KIT - (CONT'D) 


The new QL-2000 was tested with a Gold Card installed. It worked just as well as a Gold 
Card on a standard QL. Now that you have the QL installed in the new case, adding any 
extras like Qimi, Minerva or JFC Keyboard is much easier since there is more room and 
better access to everything. 


The kit does not provide for mounting 
the  microdrives. The instructions 
describe them being available as an 
optional extra. It also does not provide 
a cutout for the Qimi mouse. You can 
sacrifice a joystick port if you choose 
or you could use a standard PC 
expansion card plate and mount a 
connector there (JDR part number 
BKT-12 bracket with 1 DB9 cutout). 





+ This kit was fun to assemble and 
ГА «V. ™ produced a much cleaner QL package. 
ЕЕЕ. i ME à w If you are willing to spend some time, 
(completed QL-2000 DIY-KIT) do a lot of soldering and a little 
problem solving, this is a very 
rewarding project. The case now holds 2 floppies, a 40 MByte hard disk, JFC keyboard 
interface, JFC hard disk interface, Gold Card, Minerva Mark II and power supply. Try to 
put all that in the original QL! If you are interested in the kit but don't want to spend the 
time or don't like to solder consider one of Compter Technik's package deals or contact 
IQLR. The QL-2000 was on display at 'Miracle in Newport. It generated alot of interest. 
A number of people expressed a desire for a version of the QL-2000 that contained 
instructions and the necessary parts minus the case itself. This would allow people to take 
advantage of whatever local specials they see. 





The QL-2000 DIY Kit is available from Computer Technik/Jürgen Falkenberg 
07231/81058 phone or 07231/81058 fax, or W. N. Richardson & Co. in the UK, or 
Mechanical Affinity in North America. JDR Microdevices can be contacted at (800) 
538-5000. 


HELPFUL HINT (External Keyboard-90 Interface) 
Tiverton, Rhode Island, USA - Dick Taylor 


This was an idea that I hadn't considered of interest to anyone until Tony Firshman 
commented on it at the "MIRACLE in NEWPORT" show. I have been using Jurgen 
Falkenberg's external Keyboard-90 Interface for several years and use a QL keyboard 
top that has a blank plate in place of the keys. I cut a slot in the plate for the ribbon cable 
connecting the 8049 (now Hermes) chip socket and the Interface box. The problem with 
this setup was that the Interface box tended to shift around during use and had a 
tendency to work the 8049 chip loose in it's socket. To correct this, I stuck a small piece 
of Velcro tape between the plate and the bottom of the Interface box. This not only 
corrected the problem, but also allows me to move it aside when opening the QL case. 


17 


DILWYN JONES COMPUTING 


41 BRO EMRYS, 
GWYNEDD, LL57 3YT, 


TELEPHONE: (0248) 354023 


D 


QL SOFTWARE 


A SELECTION FROM OUR RANGE ΟΡ NEARLY 100 PRODUCTS FOR THE QL 
NOT ENOUGH ROOM TO GIVE MUCH INFORMATION HERE HERE, SO PLEASE 
ASK FOR OUR CATALOGUE (PHONE OR WRITE FOR A COPY). 


EASYPTR Ш part £40.50 
Simplified pointer enwroamext programming, Port 1 
consists of prie editor, menu edior and superbasic 


for control of menus erc in your programs. 
BASYPTR Ш part 3 £20.00 
Consists of Earysource өлі C &brary routines, etc. 


QLIBERATOR £50.00 
Superb superbasic compiler, compiles virtually all of. 
basic plus топ toolkit commands, ας Produce 
faster mukiasking code from your basic programs. 
Compile resident extentions, use overlays, etc with 
the latest V3.36. Can be mouse controlled. Expanded 
memory required. 


BUDGET QLIBERATOR £25.00 

superbasic 
bur without some of the edditional facilitas of th 
Jul version. Not mouse controlled. Works on 
wnexpanáed QL wo. 


DJTOOLKIT £10.00 
Compac toolkis ef BASIC extensions, ideal for use 
with  QLiberaor. Really useful programming 
commands, сал be distributed with your compiled 
programs if you with, Ar this price, a bargain! 
Suitable for unexpanded QL. 


LINBDESIGN 


Supplied with huge range of fonts and clipart 
TEN disks! The more memory your system haz, 
beer! Available on disk saly, 
conirolled (including SERmouse). 


DATA DESIGN 3 £60.00 

Superb, fast poixter driven database with fros form 
field serucrures, with the opcion of disk based for 
darge files (f required, or smaller filer com be kapt in 
memory for speed. You do net have το be able to 
program this version, bus (f you odd the АР! 


QPAC2 £39.95 
Толу Tebby's superb pointer environment package. 
In addition to the pointer emiroament 


QPAC! £19.95 
ideal companion to QPAC2, consim; of smal 
écorisory programs such «x calculator, calendar, 


ies 
included. Can be used with or without (РАС! 
Expanded memory required, disk only. 


ΟΤΥΡ2 £29.95 
Tomy Tebby's spelling checker program. Check 
PHIL as you type OR check aising für 
rezirozpectively. User interface allows you to write. 
programs which use the dictionary facilities. English, 
Preach and German dictionaries inciuded! 


DISA 129.00 
Interactive pointer driven тасым 
disasxsembler, 256k ram mix. Disk only. 


МЕСАТОО КІТ 

EPROM VERSION 

Large юойш with over 200 BASIC extensions, 
suitable for use with QLiberator er Turbo. Мону 
examples supplied, exremsive manual Suitable for 
unexpanded QL. 


DISCOVER £20.00 

The painiezs way to move fies from QL το PC ond 
wor versa. Аз simple as copying filer berween two 
disks. 256k ram min., disk only. 


MULTI DISCOVER £30.00 

im addition t Discover facilities, abo comaias 
CPM, Unis CPIO, BBC micro and now Spearum 
end SAM Coupe file transfer capability. 256k min. 
ram, disk only. 


TEXTIDY £15.00 
Anun Discover with conversion of tex füer by 
ripping out control codes, etc. 256k ram min. 


CONVBRT-PCX £10.00 

Used with Discover, allows transfer of bit mapped 
PC сірот graphics in PCX format (a common PC 
Ак formar) to QL screens or Page Designer pages. 
256k rum, disk only. 


QL-PC FILESERVER £24.50 

Link α PC and a QL wa a serial port cable and use 
this sofrware to enable the rwo to communicate - the 
QL can saw ks files on в PC's disk systems and. 
primi so the PC's serial port using normal basic 
commands Äke COPY. Works on unexpauded QL. 


BANTBR 125.00 
Simple so изе banner maker which uses outline fosti 
fer good quality large text. Prints sideways acon up 
59 4 sheets of paper. Simpie to use, menu driven, en 
creen preview before priming, atc. Suits топ Epson 
compatible printers, 


REAT 


TAL-Y-BONT, BANGOR 
BRITAIN 


IMAGB PROCESSOR 2 £15.00 

Базу ю use graphics synem, fearurimp usual 
graphics facil pixel wom editing, image 
euhoncement, mode conversion exc. 512k, disk only. 


SCREEN COMPRESSION £10.00 
Reduce the атошш of storage required by graphic 
on disk or microdrive - supports several QL formats. 
256k. disk only. 


SCREBN DAZZLER £15.00 
Unlike the usual screen savers, which simply rura off 
the display when the keyboard Ü not used for a 
while, thi one cam aciwwe various graphical! 
displays αν provide an artracive means of preventing 
screen burn-in, more Eke the screen savers ол other. 
computers, lf you have e compiler, you can even 
write your own savers by following the instructions 
An the manual Pointer environment com раб. 


SCANNED CLIPART 1 £10.00 
NEW! A disk full of compressed scanned pictures 
(decompression program supplied of course) which 
can be used in most QL programs (DTP, graphics, 
ac). Assorted collection, containing many pictures 
you may not find in other collections. Large number 
ә] picrures, а bargain at 1kiz price, 128k, disk only. 


PRINTERMASTER £20.00 
Select primer control codes quickly and simply from 
а menu ю мї fonts, page lengths, etc before prinzing 
from programs Eke Quill, arc. 128k, diskimdy 


SHREMOUSE £40.00 

Abia Hesir’: serial mouse driver rynem for the 
QL ü now available from DIC complete with a QL 
муш matching block mous with 9 ріл serial 
connector and UK style serial роп adaptor lead. 
Version 3 driver software. Can now work with The 
Pointer тоо. NB POSTAGE CHARGES BELOW 


SIDEWRITER £15.00 

Print wide spreadsheets or plain text files sideways 
using a choice of character sites (down to very small 
characters) on с 9 pin or 24 pin dot matrix printer. 
Program can be pointer driven (expanded memory 
required) or used without pointer on unexpanded 
QL. We've had many requests for such а program, 
here it is ot lau | Available on disk or microdrive. 


SQUIDQY ROUND THE WORLD4£12.50 
An arcade game, ideal for the young at heart! 128k 


SUPPLIES 


FLOPPY DISKS 
DSHD DISKS 
MICRODRIVES 
DISK LABELS 

Oa printer roit 
ADDRESS LABELS 
MDV LABELS 
MOUSE MATS 
Disk box dividers 

iz stock ence more! 


~ buy 2 programs, cim 5% off eack, buy 3 or more, ciais 10% eff sach program. Offer apples ю sofreare only. POSTAGE - Software ix sexi 


post free so UK addresses, Overseas please add £1.00 per program for 


(maximum £3.00). Floppy disks and serial mouse - edd postage of (2.50 Label [mouse 


рона 
mats - add postage ef £0.50 perisem if only buying these. PAYMENT - іа UK currency (pounds mering) only pises. Payment by choque, Eurocheque, Postal Order, 
cash (send by regimared ром), or by credit card (Visa! Access! Mausercard | Κιωοοαπὰ! Connect), In cape af dtfficuky consect us first so arrange a payment mathod if. 
mone af these із possible for you. Plane make cheques, etc payabiz to DILWYN JONES COMPUTING (nat te suy other name or abbreviation pleas, sur bank 
proferi it thas way I). lf sosai order value is lass sham £3.00, odd £1.00 vo аі or we'E make a loss due to high bank charges, 





DILWYN JONES COMPUTING 


41 BRO EMRYS, TAL-Y-BONT, BANGOR 
GWYNEDD, LL57 3YT, GREAT BRITAIN 


TELEPHONE: (0248) 354023 


FLEET TACTICAL COMMAND I1£39.95 


QL SOFTWARE 


A SELECTION FROM OUR RANGE OF NEARLY 100 PRODUCTS FOR THE QL 
NOT ENOUGH ROOM TOGIVB MUCH INFORMATION HERE yo SO PLEASE 


QTOP £29.93 


PRINTERMASTER £20.00 


ΗΟΜΕ RUDGET £2000 


5-GAMES$ PACK 
5 thinking’ games in one bargaix pack. 128k 


OPEN GOLF £1250 

Golf playing simularion, with choice of 50 course 
sack of 18 holes. Score table fearure, choice of clubs 
used, shot strengths, wind, rough, bunkers, etc. 384k 
memory required, bezî used with а colour monitor. 
Disk олу. 


GREY WOLF #1250 
Submarine warfare simulation, where you are the 
commander of а submarine ія. the Atlantic, an 
exercice ін игшеру for ensertainmens purposes, 384k 
RAM, 85 column monitor required. Disk only. 


QUICK MANDELBROT Ш £15.00 

Fractal graphic, mandelbra set, Julia set, screen 
dump faciity, use mode 4 or mode ё to generate 
screens, background calculation option, save and 
load screens (of course), car optionally use Binary 
Decomposition Method for plotting, Magnify 
options. Works on 128k QL, disk or microdrive. 


SToQL £12.50 

Atari ST screen transfer program for use with 
Discover, Converts Neochrome or Degas (all three 
resolutions in pilpil or pi3 format). 256k RAM, 
disk only. 


QUIZ MASTER II £12.50 
Similar to quiz game machines found in pubs and 
clubs, colourful, 2 sexs of questions supplied, you can 
make up your own for use with this program. 128k 
RAM, disk or microdrive. 


OTHER SOFTWARE 


FOR DETAILS, SEE PREVIOUS ADVERTS 


QLOAD aad QREF £15.00 


S EDIT £20.00 


BASIC REPORTER£10.00 


OPDINTERCHANGE £15.00 


LOCKSMITHE £14.95 


AMATTER £14.95 


LOCKSMITHE & 4MATTER TOGETHER 
£23.50 

Mate: To use 4Мапег, you need Locksmishe, but 
4AM апат available separarely for users who already 
have Locksmithe. 


MDV TOOLCHEST £14.95 


FILES 2 £12.00 
FiLEMASTER £1200 


THE COPHER £12.00 


WINBACK 2 

BANTER 

VISION MIXER 1 

VISION MIXER PLUS 
PICTUREMASTERE15.00 
PICTUREMASTER PLUS 
THE PAINTER 

THE CLIPART 
QRACTAL 

PD2 CLIPART 

SCREEN SNATCHER 
TEXT ОС GRAPHIX£20.00 
TRANSU 

SIDEWINDER PLUS 
BIBLE TEXT DISKS 
SPELLBOUND 
SPELLBOUND SE 

QUICK POSTERS £1000 


ADDRESS BOOK А LABEL PRINTE. 
£15.90 


GENEALOGIST 2ND EDITION £3000 
BUDGET 128K GENEALOGIST £12.00 
FLASHBACK £25.00 
FLASHBACK SE £40.00 
DISK INDEXER 

DBEASY 

DBPROGS 

NETWORK PROVER 

SOLITAIRE 

THE FUGITIVE 

CRICKET SECRETARY 

QUESTION MASTER 

QM QUIZ1 

QM 90122 

QM QUIZ 3 


COCETAILS WAITER 


SCREEN BCONOMISER 
SLOWGOLD 
TASEMASTER 

DISK LABELLER 

THE CAT 


ROB ROY PACK 


MAGAZINES 


We now have ix stock a kmüed number of back 
issues of the QL magazines formerly published by 
CGH Services amd we can aho offer individual 
copies of the mew QL magazine 'QReview' (as the 
title implies, based on reviews of QL products}. 
Subscription details supplied with orders for any 
back issues. Individual copies of QReview — 
by the editor of the other magazines described bei 

QReview ro be launched end of June) Fier for 
£2.00 each (UK), £250 (Europe), or £3.50 (USA 
and геп of world). We сал also offer arrractive deals 
on complete sets of back issues of a magazine. 


QL TECHNICAL REVIBW 

4 nos-game review magazine, 9 issues available ar 
£2.00 each (UK), £2.50 (Europe). £3.50 (USA and 
ren of world). 


COMPLETE SET £12.00 (UK). £16.00 (Europe). 
£24.00 (USA ας). 


QL ADVENTURERS FORUM 

Games based magazines, 9 issues in total available 
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EASY POINTER II- A Review ALBIN HESSLER SOFTWARE 
Thetford, Norfolk, GREAT BRITAIN - W. Geraint Jones 


I have of late, as anyone who reads the Quanta magazine knows, been experimenting 
with the Pointer Interface, and writing about my experiences to boot. In the middle of 
learning and writing about programming under pointer in assembler a package arrived 
from the States containing Easy Pointer and a request to review it from that nice chap 
from RI you know who I mean. 


Easy pointer What is it? 

The whole package consists of a very thick manual and three disks, each of which 
contains one of the sections of the package. The software consists of a number of 
SuperBASIC machine code extentions a number of executable pointer driven programs, 
of which Easysprite, Easymenu and Easysource are the main utilities. Also included on 
the disks are a number of complete examples of windows, menus and an assortment of 
SuperBASIC and assembler pointer program examples along with a number of library 
routines. 


The purpose of the package is not, as the name implies, to make programming under the 
pointer environment EASY, but EASIER, in so far as it allows the user to design the 
programs windows and associated menu items in a safe user friendly environment. I say 
easier rather than easy, because the hardest part of pointer interface programming is not 
designing windows, sprites, loose menu items or standard menu structures, but the code 
necessary to execute the options given in the menus. 


It is not my intention to take the reader on a step by step 'idiots' guide of the software 
and how to use it, but to give the reader a general feel for the package overall and what it 
can do for you. To this end the package can be divided into five sections vis: 


1) Easysprite 

2) Easymenu 

3) Easysource 

4) the extentions and 
5) the manual, 


I will for simplicity discuss each section in order. 


1) Easysprite 

Easysprite is a utility program that allows the user to interactively generate graphic 
objects. The program is obviously pointer driven and can operate in either mode 4 or 8. 
The graphic objects allowed under the pointer environment can be divided into three 
distinct yet related types, these being sprites, blobs, and patterns. All graphic objects are 
generated as sprites and may be previewed as either static objects or pointers in the 
preview window. The objects developed within Easysprite may be saved as sprites, blobs 
or patterns on either an individual or a collection basis. The program also has the ability 
to generate dynamic sprites. The sprites, blobs and patterns may either be generated 
manually by filling in each pixel or by using the programs ability to extract a section of 
the screen from a previously created screen dump. All objects created may also be 
rotated in 90 degree steps and moved about the grid pixel by pixel. 


The ability to generate files containing collections of sprites, blobs and patterns is 


20 


EASY POINTER II- (CONT'D) 


particularly useful when a number of different items are to be generated in a menu 
system. However, it is worth noting that the collection files cannot be loaded back into 
Easysprite and as such should also be saved as separate items. It is also worth noting that 
due to the nature of blobs and patterns they should also be saved as sprites, thus allowing 
them to be recalled for possible future modification. 


As I have already said the objects are generated as sprites, but may be saved as either a 
sprite, a blob or a pattern. What then is the difference between the three types of objects. 


Sprite Object 

Sprites are made up of two masks the first mask, called the colour mask, defines the 
colour of each individual pixel within the sprite, while the second, pattern mask, defines 
the shape of the sprite by defining which pixels within the sprite are visible. 


Blob Object 

Blobs are made up of only one mask, this is the pattern mask and only defines the shape 
of the object. As such in order for a blob to be visible it must be combined with a pattern. 
The pattern to be combined with the blob must of coarse be defined separately. 


Pattern Object 

Patterns like blobs are made up of only one mask, in this case the colour mask which 
defines the colour of all pixels within the pattern. Again in order for a pattern to be 
visible it must have a blob to combine with, which is of coarse defined separately. 


Combining Blobs and Patterns 

When a blob is combined with a pattern a visible graphics object is created eg combining 
a circle blob with a red pattern results in a red circle. Since a blob can be combined with 
different patterns it is possible to display the same shape in a number of different 
colours, and conversely a single pattern can be combined with different blobs, thus 
enabling the shape of a graphics object to change. 


Overall Impression 

My overall impression of this program is that it is a very well thought out and useful 
development tool, the ability to extract sections of screen images is an especially useful 
facility. The functions of the program are covered in the manual, the only drawback 
being a lack of worked examples, especially on the use and storage of more than one 
object in the programs working area. 


2) Easymenu 

This program is pointer driven utility that allows the user to generate their programs 
front end window, including loose menu items, information subwindows, application 
subwindows and pulldown menus interactively. The program only generates the 
information required to define the window, it does not generate any of the code 
necessary to set up, use or manipulate any of the menu structures this is left to the user 
via either his/her own assembler code or the supplied SuperBASIC extensions. While all 
the graphics objects have to be generated externally, the layout of information objects, 
loose menu items and the colour schemes associated with their current status are set up 
within Easymenu. The program also allows the user to generate the necessary data 
structures to create both static and dynamic text menus, but not to control them, this 


21 


EASY POINTER III - (CONT'D) 


again is down to the user. What I have already said about the primary window also 
applies to secondary windows used as pulldown menus by loose menu items etc. 


Overall Impression 

While the program is once again well thought out and a very useful utility, the same 
cannot be said of corresponding section of the manual. It is somewhat unfortunate that 
the manual only describes the commands available to the user, but not how to use them 
to generate a window with its associated menu items etc. The program is good but 
requires an inordinately high level of input by the user before any useful output can be 
produced. The effort required to use this program could, and I believe should, be 
reduced by the inclusion of a few extra pages in the manual describing in order the 
operations required to produce an example window. 


3) Easysource 

This program is very much for the assembler programmer, as its soul purpose is to 
dissassembie the binary code produced by Easymenu to generate standard assembler 
code. The beauty of this program is that the assembler code produced is very well 
commented and easily assimilated into the users code. 


Overall Impression 

This piece of software is the one that makes the package attractive to the assembler 
programmer, as it enables the other programs to act as a proper development tool for the 
program front end, markedly reducing the amount of code the programmer has to type 
and debug. 


4) The extensions 

These are a series of SuperBASIC procedures and functions, written in machine code, 
that enable the user to write pointer driven software in SuperBASIC. This has of coarse 
already been done in the Pointer Toolkit, so is this a case of re-inventing the wheel. No, 
its not, the purpose of these extensions is to allow the user to manipulate the menus etc. 
produced by Easymenu and the pointer interface in general at a lower level than can be 
achieved from the Pointer Toolkit. This is achieved by allowing the user direct access to 
the Trap and Vector calls used by the assembler programmer, directly from 
SuperBASIC, thus giving the user the same power as the assembler programmer from the 
comparative safety of SuperBASIC. 


5) The Manual 

The manual supplied is not unfortunately what I would call a true manual, but a 
reference source. I say this because my idea of a manual is a set of instructions that not 
only tells the user how the software works, but also shows the user how to use the 
software in easy to follow steps. The manual consists of three main sections, covering 
Easysprite Easymenu the SuperBASIC interface, Easysource and the use of the data 
structures generated by both the assembler and C programmers. While, as stated above, it 
details the commands available to the user in the various software packages and the 
SuperBASIC interface, it does not in my opinion go far enough in demonstrating to the 
user how to use the software to generate pointer driven programs. There are plenty 
of examples of what can be produced using this package on the disks supplied, but these 
are finished examples, not worked examples and the manual does not show how to 
generate them, but merely states that they exist. 


22 


EASY POINTER III - (CONT'D) 


Conclusion 

The package is well thought out and well designed and to my mind makes the 
development of the user interface easier by allowing its appearance to be designed 
interactively thus doing away with what would normally be a great deal of typing in any 
language. The manual could be improved by including worked examples and explaining 
exactly what is going on. The manual aside Easy pointer is a package that is of use to 
anyone who is interested in pointer programming, at whatever level. 


(Editor's Note: EASY POINTER is available from most major dealers worldwide or you 
can order direct from : ALBIN HESSLER SOFTWARE - Im Zeilfeld 25 , D-7447 
Aichtal, Germany or call 07127-56280.) 


OMATHS I - A REVIEW: Part 2 of 2 DIGITAL PRECISION LTD. 
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA - Mel LaVerne 


In Part 1 of this Review, I covered Qmaths and Qfract. In this final portion, 1 propose to 
discuss the Surface Modeller, High Precision Calculator, and Mathematical 
Compendium, the last being a sort of mish-mash of items that may not have fit neatly 
into a previous category. 


SURFACE MODELLER 

This program depicts the 3-dimensional surface defined by the equation z = f(x,y) over a 
rectangular grid [x1,x2] by [yl,y2] Fineness of definition is determined by the user 
selected number of intervals in the x and y directions. The surface is computed only for 
the selected points and linearly interpolated between points. 





To visualize the surface, imagine a sphere having the above grid in its equatorial plane. 
Further imagine a second plane tangent to the sphere at some latitude and longitude (the 
viewing angles). Now project the surface defined by f(x,y) orthogonally onto this second 
plane. This yields the surface as drawn on the screen. 


User input consists of the function f(x,y), the grid size, numbers of intervals in the grid, 
two viewing angles, a scaling mode, and a presentation mode. 


For the scaling mode you are offered three options: 1) No scaling, i.e., the surface is 
plotted as is; 2) Automatic rescaling; and 3) Scaling of the z-axis. 


There are 9 presentation modes, 0 to 8. The choices range from the usual 'wire-frame' 
with all lines visible to lines drawn only in the y-direction or x-direction to hidden line 
elimination in black and white to hidden line elimination with color. 


I find modes 2, 5, and 8 the most attractive (spectacular, even). All three modes are in 
color, upper surfaces being filled green and lower surfaces, filled red. Hidden lines 
and surfaces are suppressed. The modes differ only in the sets of lines drawn on the 
surfaces: mode 2 draws both the constant x and constant y lines; mode 5 draws lines only 
for constant y; mode 8, only for constant x. 


Modes 1, 4, and 7 are similar to the above, except for lack of color. Finally, modes 0, 3, 
and 6 are like 1, 4, and 7, except that hidden lines are not suppressed ("wire-frames"). 


23 


QMATHSI Part 2 - (CONT'D) 


In general, I find that "Surface Modeller" is easy to use and gives an excellent 
presentation. Resolution is limited only by the imposed maximum of 40 intervals in 
either direction (discovered quite by accident; no limit is mentioned in the manual). 


Having said all that, I must admit to a few caveats. What the program does is not always 
what the instructions say will occur. 


For instance, we are told that, when the surface has been drawn, pressing F3 will allow 
changing the view angles. Not so! Pressing F3 causes the prompt “Archiva donde salvar 
-->" to appear (all prompts are in Spanish; more on that later) and the program waits for 
a response. I interpret that to be a request for a file name for saving the picture. 
Supplying a name then engenders a further prompt, "Con Datos ? (s/n)" ("with data ", 
perhaps ?). 


The instructions say that if your inputs "generate something impossible", you will get an 
error message and be allowed to re-edit the input. Not always. For example, I set the 
viewing angle theta equal to zero in the default function. This appears to be 
unacceptable and I did get an error message ("Error en linea 1760"). However, the 
program stubbornly refused to allow editing the offending theta, cycling through the first 
line of input only (theta, of course, is in the second line). I was able to recover only with 
a reset. 


Finally, with respect to the prompts: the manual blithely says "it is all self evident". I 
disagree. 


HIGH PRECISION CALCULATOR 

This section contains six programs with precisions ranging from 14 to 611 decimal digits, 
specifically 14, 33, 72, 149, 303, and 611. Why would anyone want (or need) such 
accuracy ? Well, I can think of several reasons. 





Some numerical computing schemes require accuracy substantially exceeding the QL's 
not quite 9 digit precision. One or more of the first three programs would do quite well 
here in reducing roundoff error. 


Public key cryptography depends for its security on the ability to handle integers in the 
200 to 400 (or more) digit range. 


Finally, consider poor William Shanks. In a pre-computer era, he labored for more than 
twenty years, with paper and pencil, to compute Pi to 707 decimal places. Unfortunately 
for him, somewhere around the 528th decimal place he made an arithmetical error, 
invalidating all subsequent calculations. Using PRECISIONGI1, you can surpass his 
efforts, calculating Pi to 611 digits in a little more than two minutes. What a feeling of 
power ! 


The programs use Reverse Polish Notation, generally referred to as RPN. Anyone who 
has used Hewlett-Packard calculators is already familiar with the system. RPN is also 
known as parenthesis-free or postfix notation. "Postfix" simply refers to the fact that an 
operation is fixed after (post) its operands. All the programs use a Last In First Out or 
LIFO stack for calculation. 


24 


QMATHSI Part 2 - (CONT'D) 


To illustrate the basic system of operation, consider the multiplication of two numbers, 
say 5 and 9. In the common infix notation (the operator is fixed in between the 
operands), this is written 5*9. In RPN, we would write 59 *. The stack operations would 
be: 5 is pushed on the Top of Stack (TOS); 9 is pushed on TOS and in turn pushes the 5 
down to Next on Stack (NOS). Next, the operator * is encountered. NOS and TOS are 
extracted from the stack, the operation performed between them and the result, 45, 
placed back on TOS. 


Illustration of the basic operation is all very well, but how does one check the correctness 
of a 611 digit product ? Just producing a 305 digit multiplicand and a 306 digit multiplier 
could be a major undertaking, let alone verifying correctness of their product. 
Fortunately, there is a way out. The quantity JO^n - 1 is a series of nines, n digits long 
and the product of two ch numbers is easily determined. Hence, we simply use, for 
the multiplicand, 10^305 - 1 and for the multiplier, 10^306 - 1. The input expression 
to PRECISION611 is then: 10305 ^ 1 - 10306 ^ 1- *. The product is easily verified to 
consist of 304 nines, followed by the number 89, followed by 304 zeroes, and terminated 
with a single one, for a total of 611 digits. 


A 610 digit product is even easier: square the quantity 10^305 - 1, as follows: input the 
expression 10 305 ^ 1 - dup *. The only new item is "dup", a FORTH word meaning 
duplicate TOS. As a result, 10°305 - 1 is in both TOS and NOS so that when the * is 
encountered, we obtain the square. The number is like the above 611 digit number, 
except that 89 is replaced by 8. 


The above procedure, with appropriate values of n, was used with each of the 
PRECISIONxxx programs to verify correctness. Each passed with flying colors. I 
recognize that this may not be proof positive that the programs can correctly handle all 
results of up to 611 digits but I’m satisfied. 


The programs are obviously not limited to simple multiplications but can be used with a 
host of different operators, trigonometric, algebraic, exponential and others. The 
manual lists 47 operators in all. 


The manual also includes a number of worked out examples and an illustration of setting 
up an iteration. 


MATHEMATICAL COMPENDIUM 

This section appears to have been written by a number of authors who spoke neither to 
each other nor to the author of these instructions. For instance, the Introduction states 
"We have deliberately not used the finer features of SuperBASIC (REPeat, ...". 
However, I find that, eg, "SQR PATTERN" uses REPeat..END REPeat and 
"QUICKSORT" uses PROCedure, REPeat, LOCal, etc. This hardly "ensures that the 
routines can be typed into humble machines (PCs)...". 





Some of the problems I have encountered in the "Compendium" follow. 


"SPEED ACCUR" claims five accuracy tests. However, test 3 never appears; a heading 
is printed but nothing happens. We then move on to tests 4 and 5. 


25 


QMATHSI Part 2 - (CONT'D) 


"COLLATZ HYP" cannot run as written (except for n = 2 or 3). The problem is in line 
155, which reads: 155 IF N<>N*INT(N/2) THEN GO TO 150. The solution, of course, 
is simply to delete line 155. But why was it there in the first place ? 


"FACTORS" claims that an error message will appear if a negative number is input. Not 
80; the program simply ignores the input and asks for another number. Incidentally, "just 
deserts" should be "just desserts" ! 


"EASTER DAY" fails for any odd numbered year. Again, the problem is a bad test. 
The condition "Y<>2*INT(Y/2)" occurs in line 150. Since this is true for any odd Y, the 
program returns to the input line. The cure here is to change the condition to 
Y<>INT(Y), which has the side benefit of error-trapping non-integer input. 


"STATISTICS", if asked for mean and variance, says it returns the mean and standard 
deviation. Unfortunately, variance and standard deviation are different quantities. 


"SIMPLEX" cautions against entering negative or non-integer values, because "all hell 
will break loose." I tried some illegal non-integer values; the program quite calmly 
processed the data with no problem. In fact, the results differed little from those for the 
proper integral input ! 


"FITANDPLOT" declares that selecting more terms than the number of data points will 
(a) make the system over-determined and (b) give an error message. (a) is true enough 
but (b) does not happen. I must admit, though, that the resulting polynomial is worthless 
as a representation of the data ! 


I find the plots for "HITANDPLOT" and "FIT EXP" to be of little or no value, primarily 
because of the lack of any scales on the coordinates. 


It might appear from the foregoing that I consider the Compendium to be of little value. 
Not so; I found the sections "SORTING" through "LINEAR SYSTEMS" to be quite 
useful, as well as some parts of "ITERATION". "NUMERICAL INTEGRATION" was 
of especial interest (personal preference, perhaps ?), the section on Romberg's method, 
in particular. 


I have checked "ROMBERG METHOD" to some extent by integrating dx /x from 1 to 2. 
This should yield In 2. I obtained 0.6931472 as a result As a check, I used 
"PRECISIONOI4" to get the 14-digit result 0.69314718955994, which rounds to 7 decimal 
places as 0.6931472, an excellent check. 


The instructions for "ROMBERG METHOD" give the impression that Romberg's 
method of integration simply involves repeated trapezoidal (note: US usage; ’trapezial’ 
in UK usage) integration, doubling the number of intervals each time. Actually, there is 
considerably more to the process. For anyone interested in what is actually going on, | 
suggest perusing a book on numerical methods, such as "Applied Numerical Methods" by 
Carnahan, Luther, & Wilkes, page 90 et seq. 


On return home from “Miracle in Newport" (If you weren’t there, you should have been 
!), I found that QL World also had a review on QMATHS. If you have access to a copy 


26 


QMATHSI Part2- (CONT'D) 


of QLW, you might be interested in another slant on the same subject. I was puzzled by 
the reviewer's reference to OMATHS Part Two"; my disk says it is Part One. 


Since submitting Part One of this review, I have been playing about with Qmaths and 
have come across a curious result in the manipulation of complex quantities. The Help 
file on factoring says, in part, "Complex: will factorize into real and imaginary parts". 
One would expect, then, that the sequence Transform; Expand; Transform; Factor; 
Complex would yield a final result properly separated into real and imaginary parts. 
Well, maybe. 


I have so far tried factoring (a +b*i) ^п for n = 2 to 10 (Note that the expression for n = 
1 is already in proper form). The "curious result" is that for n = 2,4,6,8,10, the expression 
is properly separated. But, for odd n (3,5,7,9), the procedure fails ! For instance, 
(a--b*i)^2 transforms to a^2 - b^2 + 2*a*b*i, asit should. But, (a+b*i)*3 transforms 
to -b^3*i - 3*[a*b^2 - b*a^2*i] + a^3, correct in its way, but not properly separated. 


(Editor's Note: You can read the first part of this review in our previous issue (Vol. 3, 
Issue 1). In the near future look for Mel to review QMATHS II. QMATHS I and II are 
available from DIGITAL PRECISION LTD, please see their adverts elsewhere in this 
issue.) 


GROUP BUY !! 


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Multiply the number of ED disks you require in multiples of 10 by the Dollar or Pounds 
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The second limited offer is for QL KEYBOARD MEMBRANES, these are NEW 
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handling. The postage remains the same if you order 1 or 5 it doesn’t change unless your 
ordering from outside the US, if so add 15% to cover the additional cost. This applies to 
the KEYBOARD MEMBRANES ONLY. 


27 


RDS (Random Dot Stereograms) 
Wilmington, Delaware, USA - Herb Schaaf 


Somewhere in this issue of IQLR there should be a page with lots of dots on it; dots that 
seem to be arandom pattern, with a pair of small hollow boxes along one edge. 


If you change your focus while looking at a RDS and allow the image processing 
computer in your brain to take over, a three-dimensional effect will be seen. 


Programs to generate RDS on your QL should also be somewhere in this issue. One 
program is in SuperBasic and should run on any QL. Another is source code in C that 
worked with the C-68 compiler version 1.05. I've tried to make both programs have 
about the same “look and feel’ and you might enjoy comparing SuperBasic with C. If the 
REMarks and * /comments/* are more verbose than you like just leave them out. If you 
want to save screens in the SuperBasic version change lines 950 and 960 to suit your 
system. There is stuff in the C program that you might want to chuck out if PBM, UNIX, 
X-terminals etc. aren't of interest to you. 


Some people may not be able to 'see' the RDS effect due to the way their eyes work or 
because of vision problems. A quick test of your vision is to touch the tips of your index 
fingers so they are pointing to each other, then hold them out at arms length in front of 
you and look through them, focusing on a distant wall or the far horizon. Now spread 
your arms slightly so that a 1/4" gap exists between your fingertips. Focus on the wall or 
horizon and look for the illusion of a ‘little sausage’ floating in between your two 
fingertips. 














left hand right hand | 








If you 'see' the little sausage then you should be able to see the RDS effect as well. 


The 2 hollow boxes on the RDS are guides to help you get the proper de-focusing and 
alignment. They are placed at the bottom edge and will 'appear' as 3 or 4 when you look 
"beyond" or "half-way to’ the RDS. Make sure they are all in a line by tilting the RDS, 
your head, or both. This is critical for most (but not all!) people. If you 'see' 4 guide 
boxes, change your focus somehow so that the 2 in the middle merge into 1; then there 
will be only 3 guide boxes. When you 'see' 3 guide boxes then lock-on to the center one 
“ло ΠΑΘΗ take in the RDS, verifying from time to time that the center guide box is 
still clear. 


In QHJ #9 (QL Hacker's Journal June 1992) there was a article by me about RDS on 
pages 5 to 11 that included several other 'shapes' to try. QHJ is distributed over the 
Internet, so my write-up was picked up, passed around, and part of it was in QUANTA of 
January 1993 on pages 22 to 25. 


28 


RDS - (CONT’D) 


4^ density ? 5 
lock size ? 2 


38 across 
128 down 
3688 total 
180 dots/suath 
5 4 density 


Elapsed time: 
15 seconds 


Fadius 


Wigth 










š δ, : š А š 
Ын бөз i "са Y ΡΛ ove r^ [vt E Е > axis of rotation 2 
v " ERE s. i Ae p , СЫ d . ds ^^ Xs Y, on Ζ 2 
3 "а . ^t s. out ж š eet os ` ... ox ^ or None 
' oe d I ος жол I ο: ` Дз ud : E 
u Hu 


RDEscher -SCR 


RDS-(CONT'D) 


The version here is an 'improvement' to my first algorithm as 1 am afflicted with 
"Babbage's ailment"; thus I tweak the code, modify the design, and ‘еер on adding 
creatures’. As mentioned in the original QHJ, I am especially proud of my 'Escher knot’. 
Let the editor know if you are interested and I can describe some of the complicated 
ways I found of doing it. With lots of memory such as Trump card or Gold Card I can 
show the Escher knot spinning, revolving, tumbling in 3-space. I’ve even got two in 
motion in the same space at the same time, a red one rotating on the Y axis and a green 
one revolving about the X axis (or is it red on X and green on Y ?). 


Try RDS on your QL and share your interesting ideas with the rest of us. 1 welcome any 
thoughts you may have to enhance, improve, clarify, embellish, modify, etc. the 
programs. I might have "forgotten what I was doing’ but if there are questions as to why I 
did what I did the way I did ГІ try to reconstruct the crofty crime for you. 


For those who are on the Internet you may want to read the newsgroup alt.3d where they 
call these things SIRDS or Single Image Random Dot Stereograms. 


phere 








100REMark RDSphereQ bas 

110 REMark H.L Schaaf June 10,1993 

120 REMark ref. Mathematica Journal Winter 1991 V.1,N.3,p.69-75 
130 REMark 'Random Dot Stereograms' by Dror Bar-Natan (2 Princeton 
120 REMark dror@math.princeton.edu 

160 REMark the following are easy enough to edit in SuperBasic 
170 REMark so no ’user_input’ is provided as in the C version 

180 ipl dis = -20 :REMark displacement of image plane, + is closer 
190 obj dis = 10 :REMark displacement of object, - is more distant 
200 iwide =360 : ihigh =240 : REMark image width and height 

210 ytox = 4/3 : REMark y to x aspect ratio of QL blocks 

220 swide = 60: REMark swath width 

230 zscale = 8: REMark adjust for depth of Z axis 

240 radius = 8*8 :REMark size of sphere 

250 diam = 2*radius 

260 diamsq = diam*diam 

270: 

280 REMark set up window 1 for RDS disptay 

290 REMark window 2 for prompts and inputs 

300 REMark window 0 for errors and control 

310 MODE 4: CSIZE #2,1,0:CSIZE #0,0,0 

320 WINDOW #1, iwide +8,256,0,0 :PAPER 0: INK 7 

330 WINDOW #2,144,190,368,0 : BORDER #2,2,2 

340 PAPER #2,4 : INK #2,0 

350 WINDOW 40 ,144,64,368,192 :BORDER #0,2,4 

360 nk = 7: REMark ink color 7 = white 

310 CLS #0 : CLS #2 : CLS #1 


30 


RDS-(CONT'D) 


390 REMark ask for density and block size 
400 INPUT #2; " % density ? ";dens : density = dens/100 
410 INPUT #2;"Block size ? ";bk 
420: 
430 REMark work out rest of factors 
440 hb = bk/2: REMark half block 
450 ac = swide DIV bk : REMark blocks across (columns) 
460 ns = 2*ac : REMark allow for left shifts 
470 dn = ihigh DIV bk : REMark blocks down (rows) 
480 RANDOMISE(32000) : REMark force repeatability 
490 swa_dots=INT(density*ac*dn) 
500 swa_blks=ac*dn 
510 REMark geometric reference coordinates for center 
520 xentr = (iwide-swide) /2 : ycntr = ihigh /2 
530: 
540d begin = DATE : REMark start timer 
550 recap : REMark remind us of the parameters 
29 guide boxes : REMark help us find it 
70 : 
580 REMark a function to return the 3D value 
590 DEFine FuNction sphere(x,y) 
600 LOCal хѕ,уѕ,хх,уу 
610 xs— ABS(xcntr-(x+hb)) 
620 ys- ABS(yentr-(y +hb))*ytox 
630 xy = (xs*xs +ys*ys) 
640 IF xy > diamsq 
650 offset — ipl dis 
660 ELSE 
670 zz = diamsq-xy 
680 z=SQRT(zz) 
690 offset = z + obj dis 
700 END IF 
710 RETurn offset DIV zscale 
720 END DEFine : REMark FuNction sphere(x,y) 
730: 
740 REMark put random dot into first swath 
750 OVER 1 
760 FOR i = 0 TO swa_dots 
770 rdot = INT(RND (0 TO (swa_blks))) 
780 ydot=bk * (rdot DIV ac) 
790 xdot=bk * rdot - ydot*ac 
800 BLOCK bk,bk,xdot,ydot,nk 
810 REMark build remaining swaths 
820 FOR j -2TOns 
830 ZD = sphere(xdot,ydot) 
840 xdot=swide + xdot - ZD 
850 IF ((xdot + bk) > iwide) : EXIT j 
860 BLOCK bk,bk,xdot,ydot,nk 
870 END FOR j 
880 END FORi 


31 


RTD - CONT'D) 


890 : 

900 d_end = DATE :REMark stop timer 

910d lap = d end-d begin 

920 PRINT #2\\" Elapsed time:"\" "d lap;" seconds" 
930: 

940 REMark save screen to ram or other device if you like 
950 REMark SBYTES O ram2 rds scr,2^17,2^15 
960 REMark PRINT #2\\" sbytes saved to" V' ram2 rds scr" 
970 STOP 

980: 

990 REMark create guides to help get proper 'focus' 
1000 DEFine PROCedure guide boxes 

1010 gdlx = (iwide-swide) /2 : gdly=ihigh +6 

1020 gdrx=(iwide -swide) /2 : gdry —gdly 

1030 BLOCK 8,8,gdlx,gdly,nk 

1040 BLOCK 44,gdix +2,2dly+2,0 

1050 BLOCK 8,8,gdrx,gdry,nk 

1060 BLOCK 44,gdrx +2,gdry +2,0 

1070 END DEFine guide boxes 

1080: 

1090 DEFine PROCedure recap 

1100 REMark recap 

1110 PRINT #2\\" "; :UNDER #2, 1 

1120 PRINT #2;"Swath Data:" : UNDER #2, 0 

1130 PRINT #2;" ";ас;" across" 

1140 PRINT #2;" ";dn;" down" 

1150 PRINT 22;" swa blks;" total" 

1160 PRINT £2;" "swa dots; dots/swath" 

1170 PRINT 72; (INT(10000*swa dots/swa blks))/100;" % density" 
1180 END DEFine recap 

1190: 

1200 REMark End of RDSphereQ bas 


(Editor's Note: Due to space limitations we cannot include the 'C' listing of RDS in this 
issue. If you'd like a copy of the 'C' listing, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to 
IQLR.) 


As this is Herb's first article for IQLR (the first of many, we hope!) we thought you'd 
like to know a little of his background . 


Herb Schaaf built a ZX-81 from a kit; the excitement and thrill of programming has 
never stopped. He's been a member of the CATS group (Capitol Area Timex-Sinclair) 
since 1984, making the monthly commute from his home in Wilmington, DE to the CATS 
meeting in New Carrollton, MD; often carpooling with Tom Robbins, Bob Diggs, and 
Duane Parker. While atttending "Miracle at Newport" he put his RDS on as many QL's 
as he could, in addition to his own. Herb is a member of the Academy of Lifelong 
Learning at the University of Delaware. 


Herb's e-mail address is: hlschaaf@brahms.udel.edu 


32 


MIRACLE in NEWPOR T 









hs 2d ο 





it 1 Мы 


Al Boehm of NESQLUG (foreground) OOPS! Tony Firshman caught dang- 
discussing the HDD interface with ling his Minerva MK II in public. 


EEC’s Bill Richardson. 









EM se ES 
v < ©)» BEC | 


John Impellizzeri discribing to Don StuartHoneyball ( beard) holding 
Walterman the size of the one that court, and discussing his new QXL 
got away. card. 





pul 

















Bill Cable (background) with Frank and Carol Davis of Update 
A. Parker Lewis (left) andKenton Magazine & Mechanical Affinity 
Garrett (right) in a lively conversation setting up before the show. Two of 


of Bill’s new program "ΟΙ ΕΕΚ". the busiest people at the show. 


MIRACLE in NEWPORT 


POST SHOW DINER AT THE NEWPORT BEACH CLUB 








From left to right, Mel and Eleanor From left to right, Bob Diggs and 
LaVerne in deep discussion with Bob Herb Schaaf of the CATS group, 
Dyl. Paul Holmgren and Frank Davis of 


Mechanical Affinity. 


Photography courtesy of Megan & Roy Arsenault 





Will and Judy Horton from the From left to right are Bob Malloy, 
NESQLUG group who were such Joe LaPunzina, and Ken Lang all 
a great help during the show. from the LIST group. 


SUNDRY IQLR ITEMS 


We have a limited supply of "Collectors Editions" 


of IQLR in the following 
configurations: Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volumes 1 & 2 combined. All have heavy 
laminated covers and are spiral bound. Prices are as follows: 


Volume 1 
$14.95 US $16.95 CANADA $18.95 BRITISH ISLES 
$18.95 EUROPE $19.95 C&S AMERICA $20.95 Rest of World 
Volume 2 
$20.95 US $24.00 CANADA $26.00 BRITISH ISLES 
$26.00 EUROPE $27.00 C&S AMERICA $30.00 Rest of World 
Volume 1&2 
$30.00 US $35.00 CANADA $37.00 BRITISH ISLES 
$37.00 EUROPE $38.00 C&S AMERICA $42.00 Rest of World 


IQLR T-SHIRTS 





In the picture to the left Dick Taylor can be seen 
modeling our new IQLR T-Shirt. An enlarged version 
of our new logo appearing on the cover of this issue, silk 
screened on a high quality American made T-Shirt . The 
shirt is ASH-GREY in color with the logo in brillient 
BLACK. Sizes available include Medium, Large, X- 
Large, and Double X-Large. Sweatshirts will be 
available in the Fall, watch for our announcement. 


How can you get one ??? Well, there’s the normal 
way (see prices listed below), or you can sign up two 
NEW subscribers to IQLR and get one FREE. Please 
note, the person applying for the FREE T-SHIRT must 
send in the subscriptions themselves,not the individual 
new subscribers (this promotion does not apply to other offers that exist). 


$10.00 US $12.00 CANADA 
$15.00 BRITISH ISLES $15.00 EUROPE 
$16.00 C&S AMERICA $20.00 *R of W 


ALL prices quoted above are US FUNDS with the differences due entirely to postal 
rates for AIRMAIL service to the various areas of the world. As always we can accept £ 
or DM bank notes (currency) equivalent to the US $ amount. 


HELPFUL HINT 


On a trip to the local hardware store I picked up a roll of 2" wide CLEAR packaging 
tape, on the attached card came a list of different uses for the tape including one that 
suggested using it to protect shipping labels. You guessed it, before peeling the labels off 
the protective backing, I place the clear 2" tape over the printed area and then trim off 
the excess tape. Besides keeping my labels clean, it makes it easier to place the label on 
the disk, because it keeps it flat, no more wrinkles. 


(HOW TO KEEP DISK LABELS CLEAN) 


35 


MECHANICAL AFFINITY SUMMER SALE 


This is our Golden Cer mi 
Sale! For a limited time only, 
as we made a great deal at 
the recent Miracle in Ne t 
Show and are passing on the 
savings to you. Шћеп this 
special purchase sells out we 
will go back to our regular 
prices for these items. This 
offer expires August 15, 1993 
or when supples run out, at 
which time prices will revert 
to normal Cthough we always 
try to have some great 
prices>. 


ΜΙΝΕΗΝΗ МК! the ultimate ROM 
ир rade for the QL plus the 
MES 8049 co-processor 
replacement chip Cnormally 

$1855 now only $75! 


MINERVA MK2 the same ВОМ 
chip and board as above, but 
with a battery backed clock 
and RAM plus the HERMES 6849 
replacement chip Cnormally 
$143> 

now only $1868! 


GOLD CARD running at {6 mgh 
and with 2 meg of memory plus 
Slowgold Software to control 
the speed of programs that 
run too fast, for only 5368! 


GOLD CARD plus both the 
ΜΙΝΕΗΝΗ MKI and the HERMES 
for only $396! 


GOLD CARD and the HERMES for 
only $375! 


GOLD CARD with the MINERVA 
MK2 and the HERMES for only 
5426! 


Ше have also added тапу пеш 
products to our range of QL 


hardware and software. At 
this point in time we at 
Mechanical Affinity feel we 
have the largest range of 
both hardware and software 
of any dealer. Please request 
a copy of our newest catalog. 
To «ош you some of the пеш 
products we are now carrying 
in our stock, please see below. 


OL CENTRONICS INTERFACE for 
both SERI or SER2 to parallel 
printer. Newly redesigned to 
take up less room. It defaults 
to 9689 baud, but is able to 
switch baudrate and comes 
with a 3 meter | cable. It 
is available for 9M. 


FALKENBERG HARD DISK DRIVE 
CARD for the QL. This will 
allow you to use a MFM or RULL 
hard drive, upto 416 meg with 
your QL. For the HOD 
interface with either an MFM 
or RLL controller the price is 
$318. We also have available 
the HOD card. controller; case 
with power and 48 me 
hard rive for $475. This 3 
interface requires that you 
have a separate BUS EXTENDER 
CARD to allow you to have 
more than one peripheral out 
ot 


the expansion slot. 


üL-BUS-Driver for the Trum 
Card based OL, gives you a 
slot expansion board that 
follows the QL standards for 
expansion. This is available Tor 
$75. The 2 slot version for 
the Gold Card is 945. 


Also new to our stock are the 
following items. The longer we 
do this the better we seem to 
get. With the support of our 
customers this is a true 
statement. 


MECHANICAL AFFINITY SUMMER SALE 


QL KEVBORRD-38 INTERFACE now 
on sale at $98. This allows you 
to replace the keyboard tha 
came with your QL by using an 
IBM XT/AT keyboard externally. 
This is great for those who 
want to place their Οἱ in a 
tower or desktop case, or for 
those who have just gotten 
tired of replacing membranes 
every few years. 


QUALSOFT TERMINAL SOFTWARE is 
the best commercially available 
terminal p am for the QL. It 
comes on disk or MOV. It can 
multi-task with all popular OL 
front end rams, it has a 
simple text editor to help with 
uploads/downloads and with your 
E-mail. It allows you to do 
screen dumps while online, and 
if you combine it with a HERMES 
then you can reliably use it 
with all known high speed Hays 
compatible modems as well as 
Tandata, etc. We have it for 
only 515. 


OXL CARO for the IBM. This 
simple plug in card for the IBM 
ard compatibles allows you to 
turn a mundane IBM into a full 
blown super OL. This can give 
you from 1 to 8 megs of 
memory, improved graphics 
capability, and more speed than 
the Gold Card. Call us to 
discuss your needs on this and 
let us work out a deal you can 
be pleased with. This allows you 
to Eun, ie QL card as a s le 
application program on the IBM, 
q Yin you fhe best of two 
worlds. llle have them in stock 
as of now. 


Other new items we have added 
to our inventory include the 
following: 

TEXTS? PLUS4, OL word 


rocessor: 2488 DRIVERS for 


tthe 24 pin printers and 
bubblejets: TYPESETIO—-DESKJET 


drivers for all HP deskjets: 
TVPESETHG-EPSON drivers for 
Epson lasers; FOUNTEHTBB + 
FDUNTED84 optional dot-matrix 
drivers; PLUS4 PUBLISHER Cthe 
publisher pack) to allow you to 
combine US+ and LINEdesi to 
make the best use of text and 


ος Liedesian and 

Ba Adesign from PROGS are the 
new top of the line vector 
drawing package for the QL Ca 
massive new product that 
enables you to draw, print, 
scale, rotate any picture or 
text. and will look crisp and 
shan, and the newest version 
of DATAdesign Cwhich has been 
completely rewritten so that 
files can be disk based and 
larger than available memory, 
with the bonus that all files 
are now multi-user). 


We also now have available for 
sale the latest version of 
QTOP, the program that man 
call the definitive front en 
for all 0005 compatible 
machines. It now offers an icon 
based FILE-MANAGER such as is 
found in Windows. We have it 
for only 552. 


TO ORDER FROM US SEND CHECKS, 
MONEY ORDERS, CASH (foreign add 
$3), or C.0.B., PAYABLE to 
Frank Davis or Paul Holmgren to 


MECHANICAL AFFINITY 
513 EAST MAIN ST. 
PERU, XN 46210 

ος 
MECHANICAL AFFINITY 
5231 WILTON WOOD COURT 
INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46254 
317-291-6002 PAULS PHONE 
317-473-8031 FRANKS PHONE 


SERMouse (Ver. 3.01) - A REVIEW ALBIN HESSLER SOFTWARE 
Shelby Township, Michigan, USA - John J. Impellizzeri 


SERMouse is a software driver that allows you to connect a PC type serial mouse to one 
of the QL’s serial ports. No disassembly of the QL is necessary. The mouse can then be 
used to control the pointer if you’re using the pointer environment allowing much easier 
and faster control than the cursor keys. The mouse can also emulate the cursor keys for 
programs that don’t use the pointer environment, and will also work if you don't use the 
pointer environment at all, the mouse then mimics the cursor keys. 


In order to connect a PC type serial mouse to the QL you must make or otherwise obtain 
a simple adapter cable. Most serial mice use a female 9 or 25 pin sub-D connector and 
the QL will have either a 6 pin connector (UK) or a sub-D9 type. Even if you have a 9 
pin mouse and a QL with 9 pin serial ports you cannot simply use a straight through 
adapter as the pinouts are different. Instructions are given on how to wire the cable, 
although they can be confusing at first glance. Study them carefully and make sure you 
use the proper diagram pertaining to your mouse and QL connector types. If you are 
handy with a soldering iron and wire tracing you could also replace the connector on the 
mouse and rewire it so it would plug directly into the QL. 


Getting the right type of mouse is also important. SERMouse was designed for a 3 
button PC serial mouse. It will also work with a 2 button serial mouse. You can usually 
find these quite inexpensively (under $20) at local computer shows and stores. Some of 
these mice will have a switch to allow them to work in two types of modes for the PC. 
This switch should be in the PC or Mouse Systems mode rather than Microsoft mode. 
Other mice have this same switching done by software. Try and avoid these types, 
although the instructions do give some alternative wiring hints that may get them 
working. I definitely wouldn't spend a lot of money for some 'super' mouse. Since every 
mouse requires power from its host computer there is the possibility that some will draw 
more current than the QL’s port can provide. The first mouse I tried ($15) would only 
work after it and the QL had been powered up for a while and occasionally would stop 
working. I tried a second mouse ($10) and it works great all the time. 


Fortunately the hardware side is the hardest part. The software is quite easy to use. 
Simply LRESPR or EX the code (or the equivalent if you don't have TK2). The driver 
can be loaded either way. If you LRESPR it, you will have some new extensions to 
SuperBASIC to control the mouse driver. If you start it as a job (EX) then the 
commands are not available but you can control the job like any other in QDOS. The 
SuperBASIC extensions allow you to set the mode (pointer or cursor), set the speed of 
the mouse (how fast the pointer moves in relation to how you move the mouse), and 
reset, suspend, enable and remove the driver. There is also a screen blanker provided. 
While these are quite common on most computers including the QL, most will not turn 
the screen back on if the mouse is moved. The included blanker will turn the screen on if 
any key is pressed or the mouse is moved. 


The mouse driver's default parameters can be changed using the standard pointer 
environment Config program. | would recommend not changing anything other than 
what port you are using until you get the mouse working correctly. After using it for a 
while you get a better feel for how fast or slow you want the mouse and what function 
the mouse buttons provide. There have been some comments in the QL press on using 
the proper driver depending on what type of serial connectors your QL has. There are 


38 


SERMouse - (CONT'D) 


English and German versions of the driver provided. My experimentation has shown 
that the driver does not matter. There appears to be no difference other than when you 
are using the configuration program. The prompts will be either in English or German. 
Both versions seem to work Just fine on my USA QL. (Other than I can't understand the 
prompts in the German version). 


SERMouse contains automatic support for the Hermes replacement IPC if you have it. 
The manual tells you how to configure the driver if you have Hermes. When the driver 
loads it will detect Hermes and set only the input baud rate of the port the mouse is 
using. Anything that changes the system baud rate will not affect the mouse. If you don’t 
have Hermes, SERMouse still tries to allow you to use both serial ports. It remembers 
the baud rate before it initializes and then sets it to 1200 for the mouse. If a program 
opens a channel to the other port the mouse driver will suspend itself and set the baud 
rate back to the previous setting allowing you to use a printer, etc. When the channel is 
closed the mouse driver will enable itself again. The manual explains what to do with 
programs that don't close the channel right away. Hermes is highly recommended for use 
with SERMouse. 


SERMouse is a great addition to the pointer environment and is even better with 
Hermes. It also works well with or without a Gold Card. Its only possible drawback is 
that it does take up one serial port, although an advantage is you do not have to open the 
QL case to install it like an internal mouse. Depending on how many serial devices you 
want to hook up to the QL’s ports you might be able to use a serial cable switchbox. This 
is what I currently use. 


My printer and modem share SERI through a switch and the mouse has SER2. Since the 
mouse is really only using the input of one port, the output should be free. However 
SERMouse uses the unused output line as a negative voltage source for the mouse. 
(Mice require +5v, -5v, ground, and data). You could externally power the mouse or 
even use the QL’s -12v supply but there is still the problem of the software. Even with 
Hermes and Minerva allowing split input and output baud rates the driver opens the 
port for the mouse and any other program will get an 'in use' error if it tries to use the 
port 1 would like to see a way of having a printer and mouse share one serial port if 
possible. With a printer only receiving data and a mouse only sending data it should be 
possible at least as far as the hardware goes. Whether or not QDOS will allow it remains 
to be seen. 


SERMouse can be obtained direct from Albin Hessler or from various QL dealers 
including Jochen Merz Software, W.N. Richardson & Co. (EEC) and Mechanical 
Affinity. 


The mouse I currently use has the following information on it: Keen Mouse, FCC ID: 
HQXKEM-260, Model No: KEM-260. I have seen this same ID and model on other 
mice that look just like this one. The only difference was the brand name. The mouse 
that gave me some trouble was an Identity Systems Technology Inc. IDMOUSE-C, FCC 
ID: IOWCM-290. 


(Editor's Note: Please note ALBIN HESSLER SOFTWARE's address in the editor's 
note at the end of the Easy Pointer III review.) 


39 


PD & Shareware Software 
QL Emulator AMIGA V3.21 (3 Disks)£3.00p 
C68 Compiler Runtimes (3 Disks) ..£3.00p 
C68 Compiler Srce Code (2 Disks) .£2.00p 


MicroEMACS V3.11 (2 Disks)....... £2.00p 
GNU Text Utilities (2 Disks)..... £2.00p 
Adventure93 (2 Disks)............ £2.00p 
SPECIAL 1 О.А.Т.5................ £1.00p 
SPECIAL 2 MolGraphics V5.11..... £1.00p 
SPECIAL 3 XLisp Vi.4a............ £1.00p 
SPECIAL 4 QPACer................. £1.00p 
SPECIAL 5 'C' Tutorial........... £1.00p 
SPECIAL 6 Lib QPTR V2.00......... £1.00p 
SPECIAL 7 Lib CPORT V1.22........ £1.00p 
SPECIAL 8 QRactal Screens Demo...£1.00p 
SPECIAL 9 QL Home Finance........ £1.00p 
SPECIAL10 ZM14 SPECTRUM Emulator.£1. 00р 
SPECIAL11 Lib CURSES V1.01....... £1.00p 
SPECIAL12 ELVIS Editor V1.6...... £1.00p 
SPECIAL13 Text 'N' Graphix Demo. .£1. 00p 
SPECIAL14 'C' Prog Tools 1....... £1.00p 


SPECIAL15 'C' Debugging Tools....£1.00p 
SPECIAL16 Ergon Development Demo.£1.00p 
SPECIAL17 Ger -» Eng Wordlist....£1.00p 


SPECIAL18 QDesign Demo........... £1.00p 
SPECIAL19 D.J.Walker Demo Disk...£1.00p 
SPECIAL20 DBAS Database.......... £1.00p 
SPECIAL21 FTCIIDemo............ £1.00p 
SPECIAL22 QL Hard Disk........... £1.00p 
SPECIAL23 PSION Xchange.......... £1.00p 
PD. Disks t to Ase τς ος oe £1.00p ea 


(Each PD Disk contains 10 programs and 
a Menu. Each Disk contains a BOOT prog 
that RUNS the Menu. Each program RUNS 
from the Menu unless otherwise stated.) 


QITALY Disk Mag Iss 18 -> 24. .£1.00p ea 


(Each Disk contains 1 Issue of the 
QITALY Magazine.) 


All Disks are 3.5in DS/DD. DS/ED and 


DS/HD can be catered for but User must 
supply Disks. 


P&P for PD & Shareware 


Quantity UK Euro 21 Z2 
1-3 £0.50p £1.00p El.50p £1.75p 
4 - 6 £0.75p £1.50p £2.00p £2.25p 
7-9 £1.00p £2.00p £2.50p £2.75p 
10 - 12 £1.25p £2.50p £3.00p £3.25p 

13 - 15 £1.50p £3.00p £3.50p £3.75p 

16 -18 £1.75p £3.50p £4.00p £4.25p 


Euro:- All EEC & Scandinavian Countries 
Z1 :- Mid East, USA, Canada etc. 
Z2 :- Australia, New Zealand & R.O.W. 


QUBBESoft P/D 


38,Brunwin Road,Rayne,Braintree, Essex. CM7 5BU. 
Telephone. 0376 347852. 


New Q.L. Hardware 
QEP 3 EPROM Programmer. Will program 
2716 -> 27512 SV MOS & CMOS Ερτοπιβ. 
Includes A5 Manual............. £120.00p 


Trump Card. 768K RAM, Toolkit 2, Disk 
Interface, Dynamic RAM Disk, Printer 
Buffer. Includes A4 Manual...... £95.00p 


ExpandeRAM 512. 512K RAM with thru port 
to connect other peripherals i.e. Disk 
Interface, Eprom Board etc...... £45.00p 


ExpandeRAM 0. ΟΚ RAM, as above except 
User supplies RAM chips (8 chips=256K, 


16 chips=512K).................. £20.00p 
Twin 3.5in Disk Drives. Fully Cased 
with internal PSU,  720K formatted 
capacity per drive............. £100.00p 
2nd User QL Hardware & Software 
OL's (JS/UMROM)........... From £35.00p 
Disk Interface's........... From £25.00p 
Memory Expansion........... From £30.00p 
Disk Drive’s (Twin)........ From £70.00p 
Disk ргіуе' в (Single)...... From £45.00p 
Monitor’s (Green Screen)...From £30.00p 
Monitor's (Colour)......... From £55.00p 
Toolkit 2 (Plug in ROM)......... £15.00p 
QL Related Books....... Under Half Price 
QL User/World Back Issues........ 75p ea 
QUANTA Back Issues............... 40p ea 
Used Microdrive Cartridges....... BOp ea 
New 3.5in DS/DD Diskettes........ 40p ea 
All types of Commercial Software 


including Games, Front Ends, Utilities, 
Languages etc, etc, too many too list. 


P&P New & 2nd User Items 


Please Telephone or write for details. 
When writing please include S.A.E. or 
I.R.C. to ensure a reply. 


Payment Methods 


Cheques (in UK Pounds drawn on UK Bank) 
Postal Orders & International Р.О.'5 
payable to.............:- QUBBESoft р/р 
Eurocheques payable to.:- R.Dunnett 

Cash in UK Pounds is also acceptable. 


Catalogue 
Stamped Addressed Envelope or 
International Reply Coupon for latest 
Issue. 











Im stillen Winkel 12 * 


New Postcode! New Postcode! New Postcode! 


New Postcode! 


Б and Fax: Germany-203-501274 







47169 Duisburg 


New Postcode! New Postcode! 





The prices shown include 15% VAT now. Customers outside the EEC pay 15% less, but they will probably be charged the VAT rate 
of their country from their customs. Within the EEC, all customers benefit because our VAT rate is the lowest, so it is already a 


| 


kind of "discount". It will also simplify customs handling, e.g. in case of repair or upgrade etc. 


QD Version 5 - The first (and only) Editor using the Pointer Environment. Dy- 
nomic memory allocation, no limit on numbers of lines, comfortable black-han- 
dling and many, many new features, e.g. improved print menu, better search/re- 
place, GOTO Procedure and Function, even GOTO Machine code label. Latest 
version with improved short keystroke selection. 

New features: V5 Thing Interface which makes QDS extendable ond inbuilt 
HyperText HELP System! This HELP System is very eosy to use, simply move 
the cursor over a word ond press HELP (F1) and you get extensive help on the 
subject. With complete HELP (German and English) foc SuperBASIC, inclusive 
examples! It is very easy to make Assembler-Help, e.g. get external definition of 
routines, libraries etc. with one keystrokes. HELP can be called recursively, which 
means, you can get help on previous help on another help subject. You can even 
edit the help texts, add remarks, examples etc. (V5.12] DM 125,- 

Upgrade from QD V4 DM 25,90 

All our products which contain SuperBASIC extensions wili be updated so that 
they will have files which you odd to your HELP System so thot help is provided 
for additional Procedures/Functions! 


HyperHELP BASIC 

This product gives you instant help in SuperBASIC! The price is much lower for 
those wha program in SuperBASIC only ond do not require a full QD (although it 
is very useful). HyperHELP can be executed, put onto HOTKEY or woken from a 
Button. It displays the full set of SuperBASIC procedurs, functions and keywords 
currently existiag in your machine, plus additional help on operotors, identifiers 
etc. Simply click on the word on you get the full description, use of all parameters 
plus examples. FORGET ABOUT YOUR MANUALS for parameter description! You 
get complete help on SuperBASIC, in German and English. The help files can be 
updated with any editor, Quill, Text87 so that you can update and add remarks 
whenever you want. DM 49,— 


QMenu - the Menu Extension NOW IN VERSION 4! 

QMenu is a very easy to use interface with pre-defined menus (e.g. multi-col- 
umn file-select, simple-choice boxes, select from lists, error handling). These 
menus may be used from SuperBASIC, machine code and other languages. New 
feotures: the directory name is (optionally) not fully listed, i.e. only the names 
INSIDE the subdirectory ore given, allowing for much more files to be listed in the 
window. New DO AND REPORT menu. Brandnew feature: pre-defined 
directories and Extensions may be changed and configured at run-time! More 
examples, improvements here and there, which makes the Menu Extension 
getting mature. [V4.09] DM 39,90 

Update with new manual DM 16,- 


QDOS Reference Manual ~ This book is a must for all m-code program- 
mers. It explains how to use QDOS, all traps and vectors, the Thing System, the 
HOTKEY System Il and much more. It paints out which features work on a QL, an 
Emulator and how to write compatible for future operating systems. DIN A5, 
over 170 pages. DM 89,90 


QPTR - The Pointer Environment Toolkit Revised manual which describes 
how to use the Pointer Interface and the Window Manager from SuperBASIC 
and machine code, even how to setup standard CONFIG tables. QPTR comes 
with examples on disc. Alt necessary keys, macros and extensions for SuperBASIC 
are supplied. ОМ 92,- 


FLP/RAM Level 2 - Replacement EPROM for SuperQ8oards (V 1.17 onwards, 
with & without mouse) or TrumpCard (please specify Real sub-directories! 
QL-Emulator and Gold-Cord compatible! With ATR-device (to read ond write 
MS-DOS/ATARI discs). About twice as fast, with improved slave-block-han- 
dling! (Not JM ROMs!) DM 56,- 


QDesign Il - Graphic- and Design-program 
For all 9 and 24 pia printers, Deskjet and Laserjet DM 150,- 
Font-Vector-Editor for QDesign ОМ 60,- 


SER Mouse - driver for a serial (e.g. DOS) mouse connected to one of the SER 
ports of the QL which then mimics the QIMI interface. In addition, if you have a 
three-button mouse the following additional features ore available: ESC, Wake, 
Sleep. Supports HERMES now. DM 40,- 


QSUP - System Utility Package DM 79,90 
ΗΕ - the FileFinder UM 49,90 
DISA - intelligent Disassembler DM 90,- 
SYSTEM - System Tools for QDOS - DM 90,- 
Thing & EPROM Manager DM 61,50 
lineDesign DM 249,- 
QLOAD-REF DM 47, 
QUiberator DM 159,- 


You can now run QDOS on a Mega STE 


The new QVME display cord, which fits inside the ΥΜΕ bus of a Mega STE, is 
ready now! No soldering, you just plug it in. Fully progrommable screen 
resolutions, from 512x256 pixels up to 1024 by 780 (even during run-time!) 
and programmoble display rotes etc! Please write for more information. 
QVME-Card and Emulator software DM 695,- 


QL-Emulators – history and programming documentation. Not ο 
user manual (which comes with the emulator). DM 13,- 


E-Init software for QL- Emulator: loads, runs and initialises a lot faster. 
Can boot completely from harddisk, with auto-start facility and a lot more. 
New manual, new disks. [E.30] DM 49,90 


A Spreadsheet running under the Pointer Environment! 
QSpread is completely mouse- and/or keyboard—controllable and uses, of 
course, the Menu Extension. Windows may be enlarged up to the maximum 
screen area (think of QVME), the application window may be split in up to 
three different horizontal and vertical sections, giving 9 independent control- 
lable areas. £very cell may be formatted independently, with many options 
(justification, decimal point etc.) and with preview. The monetary symbol may 
be longer than one character, e.g. DM. Sum- and other often-used 
macro-functions. The size of the sheet is only limited by memory (16000 
cells need about 400kBytes). Block handling and block entry is very easy and 
useful, especially if you have a numerical pad: you select the block and enter 
the values one ofter the other. They are automatically place in the right or- 
der. No cursor-key-action necessary! New: celiname-enquiry, echo-func- 
tion, different rounding methods. Many additional functions, which belong to 
today's standard-equipment: Help, Button-function, use of the Scrap, oll 
standard file operations, calculation order row or columns etc. [V1.16j 
QSpread with comprehensive manual DM 169,- 


Updates: Our update policy is very generous: updates on most products 
are free! Upgrades (i.e. major improvements on the products) are availabie 
at small charges. In general you only have to pay if new manuals are 
required. For updates and upgrodes, just return the original disc and enough 
retum postage (none, if updates come with an order, DM 6,- for up to 5 
discs or DM 12,- foc more. 

Upgrade to QPTR (with new manual) 
New Emulator manual DM 16,- 


EASYPTR il - Create your own PE menus & sprites, use them in your own Su- 
perBASIC or machine-code programs. Creating Menus was not easy, until now! - 
Part 1 Basic with menu generator, sprite editor etc. DM 99,- 

Part 2 SuperBASIC Toolkit, Appendix manager δι many examples DM 49,- 
Part 3 Library routines for C and Assembler, source code generotor DM 49,— 
(if you order part 3, retum disks 1 & 2 for a free update) 


ZX8301 DM 19,90 ZX8302 DM 17,90 Kbd membrane DM 31,- 
Diamonds DM 35,90 BrainSmasher DM 45,90 
Arcanoid DM 35,90 Firebirds DM 35,90 
SuperGamesPack DM 90,- The lonely Joker DM 52,90 
QShang DM 45,90 


Brondnew games for the Pointer Environment 

The Oracle is an ancient tactic-puzzle, where you do not have to be fast but 
clever! You have to fill a number of tiles into a field, but there are various rules 
how to do it. If you can place all the tiles you get a bonus - if you obeye special 
rules you can get much more points! The first person who solves the puzzle will be 
abie to buy goods for free from Jochen Merz Software - the amount of the sum 
depends on the score! Every game is different, you'll never be bored! Other 
features: high-scare table, hints for next move. DM 49,90 

Minefieid requires o lot of skill and concentration to mark an area of mines - 
maybe you know this game from the PC. Many options, configurable area size, 
number of mines etc. Requires Toolkit і. DM 39,90 





DM 40,50 


Please add DM 14,- for postage and package (Europe) or DM 14,- 
for ane item and DM 7,- for every further item (Overseas). 
No extra charge on credit cards! All prices incl. VAT. (15%) E&OE. 


199 




















Fed up of DIGITAL PRECISION telling 


you how very good their software is 

“As surmise by this time, | am impressed MATHS's abilities. Having 

καὶ det DIBITAL PI σε ών ος tans ος κα) ca eres 
{incredible, ultimate, superb come to mind), I had approached this evaluation with 
some scepticism. That scepticism has vanished.” > INTERNATIONAL QL 
REPORT (IQLR, avellabie from Miracle Systems} May/June 1993 issue, Official Review 

M.Laverne commissioned by IQLR (who bought their review copy of the program]. 

“PERFECTION is an ‚ full-flavoured, general word 
incredible capacity... PERFECTION hat voued, general pur png oni Procesor of 
PERFECTION SPECIAL EDITION... The discoveries began to trip over themselves as 
PERFECTION SE responded to the keyboard with unexpected speed and 
intelligence... PERFECTION SE is blindingly fast at most things, and you are never 
left waiting for tt. PERFECTION is everything that Quil never became: easy to use, 
very flexible, loaded with genuinely useful features, cleanly multi-tasking, capacious 
and incredibly fast. The SPECIAL EDITION offers 12 cylinder power and luxury to an 
already impressive package.” > SINCLAIR QL WORLD magazine Official Review, 

1993 issue, by THE Mike Lloyd of Keyword Index / New QL User Guide fame. 

“I find PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER an outstandingly good program that r 
does alow, highly professional docurenis tt pedal ert μμ, 
included a few samples of work done {ος school using a combination of PERFECTION, 
PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER, QUICKLASER and EYE-Q. You will be pleased to 
know that the quality has been rated so highly that people do not believe it can really 
have been done with just a QL... 1 must stress that | am already highly impressed with, 
and very satisfied by, the performance of PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER and all the 
other DP programs that | use... I seem to learn something new that can be done 
almost each time I use the program. Very many thanks for helping to keep the QL 
ahead of the field." > Martin J Neave, Headteacher, Watton County Jnr School, 
Brandon Rd, Watton, Norfolk IP25 GAL (unsolicited letter dated 18 May 1993 

Tore programs: Mr Neave had paid full price for everything). 

“LIGHTNING SPECIAL EDITION accelerates QL operation as nothing else 
does... more than 10x is achievable and 2x-4x is typical... | could not fault 
LIGHTNING SPECIAL EDITION on anything. It Is a clear winner and a best buy at 
£49.95." > SINCLAIR QL WORLD magazine Official Review, April 1990 issue, by 

Massey, who wrote EDITOR (bought full price) was “Superb” in an earlier review. 

"PERFECTION is well named" > R.H.Petford, Kingston Hi , KT2 7LJ 
( cited letter received May 25, 1933: another ful price purchaser & upgrade], 

“When my ideal finaly arrived in the form of PROFESSIONAL 
PUBLISHER, tt surpassed all my expectations... PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER (is) in 
a class of its own, and makes it the only QL desktop publishing program for the very 
serious user... Until Digital Precision released PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER, my 
opinion was that the use I could make of desktop publishing was mainly restricted to 
short documents... PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER is a very versatile program... The 
illustrations for this series of articles have all been produced on PROFESSIONAL 
PUBLISHER... My printer is a BROTHER 9-pin dot matrix printer. It does illustrate 
the very high quality that can be obtained from PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER even 
when using a simple printer.” > SINCLAIR QL WORLD magazine Guide to desktop 
publishing (A Question of Dots", January 1992 to December 1992 issues: the 
reviewer had bought PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER, PERFECTION SE, FONT 

GER, TOOLBOXES, QUICKLASER etc from Digital Precision all at full price. 

“Lam aware that over the ital Precision has considerable to 
Va суо анага Та суне M учага ГАЛЫ ой ak атканны шнын tà 
recently encountered with PERFECTION PLUS." > The Hon. W.D.R. Spens, 
Bridgewater, Somerset, ТАБ 1HG, QUANTA magazine, March 1992 issue. Mr 
S bought a lot of his software from Digital Precision, all at full price of course. 

"The Digital Precision Publisher was hailed as an i 
шы ке Абзал тына was Коко Mie Liya ass a 
professional eye over Digital Precision's latest page-making blockbuster 
(PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER) and finds plenty to be pleased about.. there is 
unlikely to be a single program of such magnitude and quality (as PROFESSIONAL 
PUBLISHER) written for the Sinclair QL.” > SINCLAIR QL WORLD Official 

iew, August 1989 issue, by M.Lloyd, who personally bought all this at full price. 

“EDITOR is a liberation. After Quill, it was like jumping from an aquarium into 

the sea. It has become part of my professional life... Everyone is now writing about 
the excellence of PERFECTION. 1 have not tried it, not having any perceived need for 
it (having EDITOR! > Suzanne Cronje, QUANTA magazine, May 1992 issue, page 
2, Ms Cronje naturally had paid the full price for her copy of EDITOR SE. 
/ “I have found (PERFECTION) to be simply excellent, fast, packed with features 
and very well thought out. | can find little to say that will convey just how good this 
program is, except to quote Digital Precision's own advertising: PERFECTION will 
blow your socks off. PERFECTION is the program that Quill users have been waiting 
to.” > SINCLAIR QL WORLD magazine first Official Review, May 1991 issue. 

“Digital Precision (DP) decided to begin work on a replacement for Quill which 
would be very quick, simple to use and contain lots of excellent features - something 
upon which DP have built a very strong reputation in the QL market... Overall, the 
speed-up (of just the first release of PERFECTION - it is much faster now] on even a 
humble QL with Trump Card is amazing when compared with Quil (or any other 
word processor]. On top oí this, the program provides many excellent and well 
thought out features, each οἱ which is easy to use... (i is certainly years ahead of the 
competition on the QL (and even on many Ρος). > R.Mellor, c/o CGH Services, 
Cwm Gwen Hall, Pencader, Dyfed SA39 ЭНА; Official Review of the very first version 
οἱ PERFECTION in Οἱ. TECHNICAL REVIEW issue 7: and the reviewer personally 
bought his own copy οἱ this program, and many others at full price, from Digital 
Precision. Earter QLTR reviews pronounced LIGHTNING (just the standard version) 
superior to the competition and ADVENTURE CREATION TOOL excellent. 


У "As a recent user of PERFECTION PLUS SE, may I add my thanks and praises to 
the ones [ am sure you already received... keep up the excellent work.” > R 
eo 

“Αἱ about 360,000 words, the Mega SPELLCHECKER dictionary does not have 
much competition, on any computer! (Gpeichecking) is about four tines as fact os the 
best figures I have seen with other checkers on QL and PC.” > SINCLAIR QL 
WORLD magazine official review of PERFECTION spelichecker, September 1992 
issue, by Bryan Davies of Troubleshooter repute (review copies of all the competing 

supplied to SINCLAIR QL WORLD by their respective publishers). 

"| have been using PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER for about eighteen months 
now... what you can do with it is colossal... | got Digital Precision's QUICKLASER. 
The results are as good as (Digital Precision) says in its advertisements..." > P.Hamill, 
Peterborough, Cambs PE8 6RH, QUANTA magazine, Volume 9 issues 4/12. Mr 

Ш (full price purchaser) then makes suggestions to users re optimal page sizes. 

“Once again I would like to say thank you for your help. | would like to tell the 
world what nice guys you are but unfortunately | have no contact with the outside 
ως Godshill, Ventnor PO38 3JJ (full price purchaser, 24 May 1993). 

"PC CONQUEROR GOLD SPECIAL EDITION is an excellent product, 
accompanied, as so often with Digital Precision software, by a compr ive and 
informative manual. The program does a difficult job, and does it well... Overall, this 
program is much faster, more compatible and capable..." > SINCLAIR QL WORLD 

ial Review, March 1993 issue, by M. Knight (bought many DP programs full price). 

"Many thanks for the update of PERFECTION SPECIAL EDITION. I am suitably 
impressed. Congratulations on producing the only word processor that | know that 
offers the best of all worlds as far as formatting is concerned. After Quil, 
PERFECTION is like a breath of fresh air." > Geoff Wicks, 1097HL Amsterdam, 
Netherlands (unsolicited letter dated 13 June 1993: all software including LIGHTNING 
ο... PRO PUBLISHER, CONQUEROR SE etc, purchased at full price). 

“All | can say about QMATHS is: WOW!" > Robin H 3 SP5 

= (unsolicited letter маты April 1993: Мг Holoway κα fal price purchased 

used a of deskt blishers on the iga, Í admit | am 

Ves und Ue ith the superior performance of аат аала оти а It 

contains everything required” > SINCLAIR QL WORLD January 1989 issue, article 
titled "6 of the Best" which also praised five other new Digital Precision programs. 
1 take this οἱ to say that [ have, in the found the software 

Nee nanas ma wi LIGHTNING etc} to be οἱ xtreme high фе обага You 

with that found in industry-standard PC packages. Keep up the good work. Without 

your quality software, [ would be forced to abandon the QL and go to a PC." > G. 


Reynolds, Crosby, Liverpool L23 OSS (unsolicited letter dated April 2 1993, placing a 
further order for DP software: all programs old & new were purchased at full price). 


Á This URS but a casual sclection, drawing only on extracts from letters 
received by DIGITAL PRECISION in the last few days and from articles (in 
respected, independent QL journals) that just happened to be to hand. If we 
really had to, we could locate. about 1,100 equally complimentary recent 
communications (the figure has been carefully arrived at by sampling all our 
correspondence files): pleasant though such a trawl would be, we have more 
pressing things to do, like keep refining our programs! In case any scepticism 
still exists, we refer potential purchasers of our products to pages 18 and 19 of 
the September 1988 issuc of Sinclair QL World, which contained three to four 
hundred other unsolicited quotations from happy Digital Precision customers 
(together with the customer's name and whereabouts), all of whom had bought 
their DP programs. That collection covered only three programs (and only partly 
- we ran out of space) and predated our best software (LIGHTNING SE, 
PERFECTION (+SE), PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER, PC CONQUEROR 
(+SE) etc). We reproduce those pages below, duly reduced to fit (no magnifying 
lens supplied, nor eyesight lawsuits solicited). Don't think DP hides behind 
small print: send an SAE for a full-size co k fc free while ordering! 




























































VW DP are 


QXLs (at extra-low prices 


2 
liers of the best QL software and hardware, including GOLD CARDs and 
ices with our software). If you do not receive any QL magazine 
containing our four or five page advertisements, please contact us for a copy of the ad, which 
contains brief details on all our programs, prices and special discounts. [f you have been out 
of touch for a while, you may be amazed at how much new software we have now produced! 
DIGITAL PRECISION LTD, 222 The Avenue, Chingford, London E4 9SE 

Telephone (24 hour): 081 527 5493 (UK); +44 81 527 $493 (rest of the world) 





3-D PRECISION CAD SYSTEM 

ADVENTURE CREATION TOOL SPECIAL EDITION 
ARCADIA GAME 

ARCHIVE DEVELOPMENT SYS + RUN-TIME MODULE 
ARCHIVE TUTORIAL 

BETTER BASIC EXPERT SYSTEM 

BLOCKLANDS GAME 

CASH TRADER v3.3 + ANALYSER 

COMPARE FILE UTILITY 

COPY UTILITY FOR BACKING UP 

CPORT BASIC TO C AUTOTRANSLATOR WITH Cua COMPILER 
CPORT BASIC TO C AUTOTRANSLATOR 
DATABASE ANALYSER FOR ARCHIVE 
DAT-APPOINT APPOINTMENT DATABASE SYSTEM 
DESKLIET/LASER.IET DRIVER FOR PRO PUBLISHER 
DESKTOP PUBLISHER SPECIAL EDITION 
DESKTOP PUBLISHER 

DIGITAL C COMPILER 

DIGITAL C SPECIAL EDITION 

DISKTOOL WITH QUICKDISK 

DROIDZONE CAME 

DR-DOS v6.0 STATE OF THE ART PC OPERATING SYSTEM 
EDITOR SPECIAL EDITION 

EDITOR 

EYE-Q GRAPHICS SYSTEM 

FONT ENLARGER 

GAMES COMPENDIUM (ALL FIVE GAMES) 

GRAFIX 24-PIN UNIVERSAL PRINTER DRIVER 
HARDBACK + FINDER HARD DISK MANAGER 

IDIS INTELLIGENT DISASSEMBLER 

IDIS SPECIAL EDITION 

LIGHTNING ACCELERATOR 

LIGHTNING SPECIAL EDITION ACCELERATOR 
LIGHTNINC COLD SPECIAL EDITION 

MAILMERGE DATABASE SYSTEM 

MEDIA MANAGER SPECIAL EDITION 

MEDIA MANAGER 

MEGA DICTIONARY 

MICROBRIDGE 

NAMES AND ADDRESSES DATABASE SYSTEM 
PAYROLL SYSTEM 





49.95 € 


РС CONQUEROR GOLD SPECIAL EDITION + DR-DOS v6.0 179.95 € 


PC CONQUEROR COLD SPECIAL EDITION 
PC CONQUEROR WITH DR-DOS v.o 

PC CONQUEROR 

PEDIT PRINTER DRIVER FOR XCHANGE 


99-95 6 


139.95 € 


59.95 
19.95 а 


PERFECTION PLUS SPECIAL EDITION wrre SPELLCHECKER 139.95 ¢ 


PERFECTION PLUS wrru SPELLCHECKER 99-95 r 
PERFECTION SPECIAL EDITION WORD PROCESSOR 99.95 с 
PERFECTION SPECIAL EDITION DEMO VERSION + DATA 19.95 с 
PERFECTION WORD PROCESSOR ενος d 
PERFECT POINTER TOOLS 29.95 а 
PROFESSIONAL ASTROLOGER WITH ASTRONOMER 69.95 а 
PROFESSIONAL ASTROLOGER 59.95 а 
PROFESSIONAL ASTRONOMER 29.956 
PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER TOOLBOXES (OTH PARTS) 49.95 r 
PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER TOOLBOX PART ONE 29-95 r 
PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER TOOLBOX PART TWO 19.95 с 
PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER 89.95 с 
QFLICK CARD INDEX SYSTEM 29.95 ^ 
QKICK FRONT END SYSTEM 24.95 а 
QMATHS MATHEMATICAL SYSTEM PART ONE $9.95 c 
QMATHS MATHEMATICAL SYSTEM PART TWO 59.95 с 
QMATHS MATHEMATICAL SYSTEM (BOTH PARTS) $9.95 < 
QMON MACHINE CODE MONITOR 39.952 
QUICKLASER PUBLISHER DRIVER FOR LASERSET/DESKIET 19.95 с 
RECOVER ARCHIVE UTILITY 19.95 a 
REVERSI GAME 9-956 
SEDIT + SCREENPRINT ARCHIVE UTILITIES 39.95 а 
SOLUTION PC EMULATOR WITH DR-DOS Ф.о 109.95 r 
SOLUTION PC EMULATOR 29.95 r 
SPELLCHECKER WITH DICTIONARIES 49.95 d 
SUCCESS CP/M EMULATOR 49.95 b 
SUPERBASIC MONITOR 24.95 а 
SUPERFORTH COMPILER WITH REVERSI 39.95 а 
SUPER ASTROLOCER 24.95 6 
SUPER ВАСКСАММОМ GAME 9-950 
SUPER SPRITE GENERATOR 29.95 а 
TOOLKIT Ш WITH ROM 49.95 h 
TOOLKIT ш 29.95 а 
TRANSFER UTILITY SPECIAL EDITION 29.95 b 
XREF SUPERBASIC PROGRAM ANALYSER 29.95 а 
TRANSFER UTILITY 9.956 
TURBO BASIC COMPILER + TOOLKIT 79.95 5 


ULTRAPRINT SCREEN DUMP UTILITY 
XREF SUPERBASIC PROCRAM ANALYSER 


KEY a-Aruiiabie either om cartridge or disk; Only on disk, c-Miniaeums £ 11K 
παρε only em disky d-Miminnums 256K exp: athar cartridge ος disk, ге Місія 


19.95 a 
29.95 а 


256K expt outy om disky a-Onty om artridge @- Машгала LSM RAM: only eu 


Miski Wm As well ac cartridge oc dek, yeu get a ROM. 


SPECIAL DEALS 


Buy any two of our programs, deduct 5% from the 


total; 10% off 3; 15% off 4; 20% off 5; BE% off 5+! 














VERY SPECIAL DEALS FOR IOLR READERS: 
Deduct an additional TWENTY PERCENT (20%) 
from your order - and this can be combined with 
the Special Deals! You've never had it so good! For 
example, say you order (together with five other 
items) GAMES COMPENDIUM. Ordered individually, 
the games would cost 5x£9.95-£49.75. But to you 
the cost would be just £29.95-25%-20%=£17.97, a 
reduction of £31.78 - a saving of nearly two- 
thirds!! And of course you would get both the 25% 
and the 20% discounts on all the other five items 
too! This offer is open for four weeks from 
publication of this issue. Take advantage of this 
offer, and of the still ‘cheap’ £ sterling, by acting NOW. 


















DEMO VERSION OF PERFECTION SPECIAL EDITION! 
We have prepared a DEMO version of PERFECTION SPECIAL 
EDITION word processor. All saving, exporting, printing, 
automatic (manual is OK) reformatting, dictionary-maintaining 
and spelichecking (whether by block, page, document or disk) 
are disabled or slugged, and speed is somewhat reduced (it is 
still very very fast). But absolutely everything clse works. If 
you have any doubts as to whether PERFECTION SPECIAL 
EDITION can be as good as the ads say, this DEMO version will 
soon convince you! To really see this program fly you need large 
files, so we supply as part of the DEMO version over 3 megabytes 
of absolutely fascinating files, together with ARC, an excellent 
p.d. compressor/decompressor for any file. The supplied files 
include much of the Bible, Perfection manuals, the Maastricht 
treaty, a cleverly scrambled (because of confidentiality) but still 
hugely entertaining extract from our huge customer database 
and much more. When, having tried the DEMO, you order the 
full SPECIAL EDITION (with or without spelichecker), return 
disk #1 to get £10 off. The data files etc are yours to keep, of 
course. If you own PERFECTION SPECIAL EDITION already, you 
can buy just the data files (+ ARC supplied free) for £9.95. We 
use the program as a word processor, database, technical editor, 
cross-referencing aid, comparator, programming assistant etc. 


THE sman PRINT 


* We accept payment by VISA, Mastercard, Access, Eurocard, Eurocheque, 
UK£ cheque drawn on a UK branch of any bank, postal order, 
cash/travellers cheques (preferably in UKE - if US$ or DM, add 10% to 
cover exchange costs), or even direct funds transfer to our bank account 
#60327808 at Barclays Bank, South Chingford Branch (sort code 20-53-00), 
NE London Business Centre, PO Box 2403, London NIS 2BY. If you really 
must send a non-UK£ cheque, you must add U$$30 to cover the heavy 
clearing charges we will have to bear at our end. 

* Upgrades cost the difference im current price plus £10; return the 
original disk and documentation. Do NOT return documentation if the 
upgrade is to a SPECIAL EDITION of your original program (except in the 
case of the LIGHTNING SPECIAL EDITION upgrade, as that program has an all-new 
manual}. Upgrades count as programs for the purpose of calculating 
Special Deal prices, which is very good news for you! 

* Mail-order to the UK, add nothing; to non-EC Europe (e.g. Switzerland), add 5%} to 
outside Europe (e.g. USA), add 10%; to other EC countries (e.g. Holland), add 15%. 
Retail prices to UK & other EC states include full-rate UK VAT as per EC regulations. 

















Expiry date: 


SAID Leen amm E uv eram m КЕТЕРЕ трн зат М ἕπῃ are met by А Mail Expr 








SUBSCRIPTIONS / ADVERTISEMENTS 


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DISCLAIMER: SeaCoast Services reserves the right to publish, edit, or reject any 
submitted material Under no circumstances will SeaCoast Services be liable for any 
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SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 
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IQLR is published 6 times per year. Our subscription year runs from 1 May through 30 
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SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE IS: 15 AUGUST 1993, 
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TEL: 0753 888866 FAX: 0753 887149 


KEYBOARD '90 INTERFACE for XT/AT KEYBOARDS 
(instructions included) 


EXTERNAL CASE & CABLE FOR ABOVE 


HARD DISK INTERFACE for MEM or RLL H.D.D. 
(accomodates up to 400M B) (send for additional info) 


P/C CONTROLLER INTERFACE & CONNECTOR 


2 SLOT BUS EXPANDERS For Above & Gold Card 


QL in it's original case QL installed in a large PC case QL installed in a small PC case 


Q{ HOD -Card QL-HOD-Card ^ Controller 
Controller ΚΑ angfo-adaptoc / н 


BUS -Expander vertical 
Controtier with angle-edaptor 
t QL-HOD-Card. 


The typical assembly with the three different layouts flex, horizontal and vertical of the CL-BUS-Expander. 





P/C BOARD Aor B $40.00 FLEXIBLE C $60.00 


We can supply a full line of QL Spare parts, and we still have a limited supply of new 
QL's. Call, Fax, or Write us for all your QL needs. ALL major credit cards accepted. 





TF SERVICES 


HERMES 


The ULTIMATE operating system upgrade A replacement QL co-processor for 
the QLs awful IPC 8049 





MKII MINERVA with battery for 256 bytes ram, 
CRASHPROOF clock & Philips I2C bus for parallel/ 
analogue interfaces to drive robots, central heating etc. ` Do you get keyboard bounce? 
Can autoboot from battery backed ram. - Do you find fast seria! input unreliable? 

- Do you want to connect a modem at 19200bps 








DEBUGGED pee ue | 

operating system/ autol on reset/ 

Multiple Basic/ faster scheduler-graphics (10% of If you cam say YES to any gi ass 

lighting)-string handling WHEN  ERROR/ second then you need HERME 

scree TRACE/ foreign keyboard drivers/ "warm" fast xA 

reset/ Auto reboot after power failure. - 19200bps RELIABLE serial input - NO QCONNECT. 
- Independent input baud rates - use serial mouse & print 


; ed repeat chrs 
Ist MKI to MKI upgrade: £1.50 (+ manual £5 if requd) ane m ον 


(send rom (PROTECT LEGS! & NEW disk/3 mdvs) - Provides extra input/output lines 
- Key click 





(мк...гитмоуинизу мк!....бв(Е63у#6т] ) 





Fitting is a simple job. Simply remove the QL top (8 
BOTH VERSIONS GOLD CARD COMPATIBLE screws) and replace the chip marked '8049' or '8749" 
next to microdrive 1. 


QL SP ARE S £26(£24)[£27] incl manual/software 
РС Interfaces 


Faulty QL board ( no plug-in chips).......... £11(£10)[£16] 


Kybd memb ...£8.50(8)[9.50] Circuit dings .£3.50\(£3)(£41] | тһе PC bus was designed by Philips to simplify 
68008 cpu .......£8.50(£8){11] 1377 PAL .......£3.50(£3)[£4] interfacing. Minerva MKII clock is driven by an PC 
JM ROM...£10.SO(£10)[£11] Power supply .£17(£16)[£26} chip, & a connector allows connection of other circuits. 
8302 ULA.£10.50(£10)[£11] [#21] 


8049 IPC....£8.50(£7.50)[£9] 8301 ULA.£10.50(£10)[£11] Parallellaterface Up to 4 can be connected powered 
by the QL. Each gives 16 input/output ports. Can be 
used wherever logic level signals are required 
eg model train controllers.. .. £26(£24) [£27] 


BULLETIN BOARD Analogue Interface Up to 4 can be connected & 


powered off QL. Each gives 8 analogue to digital 
inputs, 2 digital/analogue outputs. For temp 
QBBS - The first UK QL scrolling bulletin board. measurement, sound sampling etc...£31.50 (£29) [£30] 


International echomail & the whole King James’ bible! 
Data. sheets. ............ 


(*44)71-706 2379 V21/23/22/22bis Control: softwarcaiantal 


АП prices include airmail post & packing, & zero VAT rated outside thc EC. Prices are: EC except 
UK (Europe) [Outside Europc] Ring for UK prices. Payment can be by Mastcrcard/V isa/Eurocard/£ cheque/money 
ordcr/bank draft drawn on UK bank branch, or cash! Any customs duty etc customer's responsibili 


_ 12 Bouverie Place, LONDON, W2 IRB ` 
Το]: (+44)71-724 9053 ` Fax:. (+44)71-706 2379.